Bloodline
by The Philosopher's Queen
Summary: Sequel to Advocate. Seishirou and Subaru thought getting together was hard enough. Six months later, they have to deal with angry relatives, juggling their jobs, maintaining some level of peace between them, Hokuto's upcoming wedding, and now, an old and forgotten enemy that threatens to destroy them both.
1. Routine

**Bloodline**

Disclaimer: CLAMP owns it. I play with it.

Summary: Sequel to Advocate. Seishirou and Subaru thought getting together was hard enough, but six months later, they have to deal with angry relatives, juggling their jobs, maintaining some level of peace between them, Hokuto's upcoming wedding, and now, an old and forgotten enemy that threatens to destroy them both.

Pairings: Seishirou x Subaru, Kakyou x Hokuto

Warnings: Violence, blood, implications of sex. If you have a problem with any of this...you're in the wrong fandom. This is CLAMP, so blood is a given.

Author's note: Welcome to Bloodline! Rating is T...expect sexy scenes, but nothing explicit. I might upload a oneshot, detailing some of our favourite couple's less moral activities...but for now, you'll have to make do with a smattering of cute fluff, and a bit of sexiness. This story will be longer than Advocate, and the chapters will be a little longer, too, yay! This first chapter is something of a setup - a 'slice of life' sort of thing, but hopefully it won't be boring.

Dedicated to chalkbutterfly, and all those who supported Advocate and have been patiently awaiting the sequel. You're all amazing!

_...Bloodline..._

Chapter One – Routine

_14th August 1992_

A single amber eye shone in the moonlight streaming through the gauzy white curtains of the bedroom window, lazily blinking as Seishirou took in the scene before him. It was almost three in the morning, and the window was flung wide open in the humid summer heat as though to encourage a breeze, though the curtains barely moved. Seishirou's seventeen year old lover lay sprawled across the bed, a thin sheet covering his legs and one of his arms. The older man's mouth twitched in amusement.

Not as small as he used to be, still slender, and finally beginning to grow into his own muscle, Subaru breathed evenly in his sleep, unplagued by the nightmares which had once routinely haunted him. At first, when they had moved in together about a month ago, neither able to bare time spent apart and still stuck in what might have constituted a honeymoon period for any normal couple, Subaru had been flighty about sharing a bed every night. He'd been embarrassed and fidgety, endearingly shy even then, but in the weeks since their first night sharing a bed, he'd relaxed a little.

They'd settled into something of a routine. Subaru worked days and attended school, Seishirou preferred to operate late at night, though between them they still ran the veterinary clinic together. Seishirou had ceased deflecting the sakanagi from his spells onto the animals they took in there (and had never revealed he ever had). They worked, they spent time together and always had dinner together unless Subaru's job kept him occupied late into the evening. Usually if this was the case, Seishirou would meet him after work and take him out for dinner, something Subaru, himself head of a wealthy household, would try week in week out to protest against.

He never won.

"Stop creeping, Seishirou..." Subaru hadn't opened his eyes, but his sleepy voice brought an indulgent smile to the older man's face. "And don't you dare get blood on these sheets, they're clean on."

Biting back a snort, Seishirou raised his hands. Subaru must be sleepy if he was being so light about Seishirou's less-than-legitimate occupation. "No cold-blooded murder tonight, Subaru-kun. I promise." It wasn't too much of a lie, the murder he _had_ committed wasn't really in cold blood. It had been a routine job, the dead man had been a wanted criminal escaped from prison and on the run. Since Seishirou (sort of) worked for the government, he was duty-bound to kill him for them, even though it wasn't fun, nor especially difficult. Personally Seishirou preferred his victims innocent, as did the Tree. Something else he never got around to telling his young lover. Seishirou was sure his Tree enjoyed it's meal regardless, though it would be hungry again by tomorrow. No blood on his hands this time, though, a clean break to the neck had done the trick, leaving the bloody part to the Tree. That man's blood would have been filthy on his hands. He stripped off his long coat and dumped it on the floor, knowing Subaru would throw a fit in the morning - _"Don't chuck your clothes on the floor, put them in the wardrobe or they'll get all creased! You're as bad as Hokuto-chan!"_ – but not really caring at this point. He was too tired.

Dropping down beside Subaru, who had apparently gone straight back to sleep (either that or he hadn't heard Seishirou flinging his clothes all over the bedroom), Seishirou carefully tugged his share of the sheets out of the tangled heap under his lover's slender body, and pulled them up, wondering whether to shock Subaru awake with his cold hands.

Deciding such an act might be detrimental to his health – Subaru had gotten good at not pulling his punches with Seishirou ever since they'd fought that rainy night on the roof of Mirei-san's apartment building – he settled for rolling over and turning his back on the younger to wait it out. Sure enough, unconsciously or not, he soon had a very warm body pressing against his back, and soft hair tickling his neck. Shaking his head, he let a slight smile cross his features and let his eyes drift closed.

As he slept, Subaru lay awake behind him, chewing silently on his lip. He was pressed against his older lover's back, but couldn't help but let his thoughts stray, as they always did, to Seishirou's work. For all the man's protests, Subaru could sense death on him. If Seishirou thought he could fool an onmyouji as sensitive as Subaru, he was a damn idiot. He didn't think it would bother him as much as it did, Seishirou's 'choice' of job – it certainly didn't seem to affect Hokuto, she even made jokes about it. Why should it bother him, the one person who loved Seishirou more than anything? Besides...deep down, Subaru knew Seishirou had little choice. He _was_ the Sakurazukamori, to pass the title on would mean his death, and if the older man's little hints were to be believed, likely at Subaru's own hands. That wasn't an option, but still, Subaru felt like a traitor to his own name sometimes. Hokuto would have called him silly – she would have said something like 'that's like being a vegetarian and marrying a steak-lover.'

And Seishirou's victims had diminished in number since they'd been together. Seishirou had outright told him he tried very hard to stick to guilty or contracted victims now (though Subaru would never forget the little girl, crying blood from dead eyes onto his nine-year-old face) and chose his targets, those he actually had a choice in, a little more carefully. At Subaru's request. Though it might have more to do with the younger man providing a better form of entertainment for Seishirou than cold-blooded murder, Subaru suspected.

Damnit. He loved Seishirou, wasn't that enough? Why was he lying here fretting about it? Subaru had seen Seishirou, the real Seishirou, knew that he had a good side, as stoic and gruff and dark as it seemed sometimes. The man absolutely doted on him, treated him with the utmost gentleness, and was kind towards Hokuto and Kakyou. Most of the time. The existence of the bet...Seishirou had made a bet he didn't believe he could lose, he had admitted as much. But the mere fact that he had made it in the first place, breaking a cardinal rule letting Subaru go the first time, meant that there must have been a glimmer of hope deep inside the elder that Subaru might...might just win it.

Subaru pressed closer to Seishirou's warm back with a sigh, chasing the thoughts from his head. "I love you..." He murmured against the man's skin, before letting his eyes drift closed.

_...Bloodline..._

_19th August 1992_

Seishirou didn't even look up when Hokuto barrelled through his front door. He just held his arm out to catch the groceries when she inevitably tripped over her own feet while trying to kick off her shoes and clamber into the kitchen at the same time, like always. "Good morning, Hokuto-chan." He said without taking his eyes off the paper.

"Hey, Sei-chan. Where's Subaru?" She responded, taking the brown paper bag out of his arm once she had picked herself up and finally kicked her second shoe off and into the hall, where Kakyou dutifully picked it up along with the other one and stowed them neatly on the shoe rack.

"Still asleep." Seishirou let a small smile touch his lips as Hokuto and Kakyou let themselves into his apartment, chattering about wedding venues and caterers. They were perfect for each other, polar opposites just the way Subaru and Seishirou were (though perhaps not quite so drastically). A handful of dress magazines dropped onto the table in front of him, obscuring his paper, and the smile turned indulgent, if a little...strained. Seishirou leant back in his chair, twisting his head to nod to the dreamseer. Kakyou was looking...healthier than usual, the new medication he was on was working wonders for his general health, and allowed him to keep better waking hours. He still slept twelve to fourteen hours a day, but it was a vast improvement from before.

"Ah...Hokuto-chan, please don't wake him..." Seishirou called quietly as the excitable older twin went to harass his lover. "He had a rough night, he wasn't sleeping well."

Hokuto's face fell. "Really?"

"Nightmares, I think. Nothing I couldn't handle, but I'm letting him lie in for a bit."

"Will you talk dresses with me instead?"

"No." Seishirou said flatly, sipping at his coffee and tugging his now very crumpled paper back out from under the magazines. Hokuto pouted, but didn't press the point, flopping down in the chair opposite and thumbing through the topmost glossy book. She hummed and nibbled on her lip as her eyes traced the modern designs of the dresses. Kakyou settled next to Seishirou and exchanged pleasantries with him, glancing over the paper in the man's hands briefly, then idly turning his gaze to a few of Hokuto's magazines. Kakyou was as mild mannered as ever, as calm as Hokuto was mad. Seishirou had grown to appreciate the quiet young man's presence in his life, though it galled him to admit that yet another human being had gotten past his iron shields to join Hokuto, and of course Subaru.

He blamed Hokuto, the meddling little wench. Had she not been so bloody-minded, everything would have gone to plan the first time around, and he would have died happy. And alone. Without the trouble of three young, vibrant, endearingly annoying lives to concern himself with.

Seishirou glanced up again as his lover shuffled into the kitchen, still in his black silk pyjamas with the sakura print (Hokuto's idea, Seishirou's present) and flopped straight into Seishirou's lap with a sleepy yawn, burying his face in the man's shoulder. Hokuto squealed in delight at the display of affection, and Subaru cracked one eye open to smile a greeting at his sister. Seishirou offered the younger boy his coffee, and wound one arm around Subaru to continue thumbing through his paper, a little struck by the ease of the situation. He remembered the first time Subaru had displayed such open affection, how Seishirou had wondered at it, been baffled by the Sumeragi's casual demeanour. He had never imagined Subaru would ever come to accept him. That had been a large part of the reason for all of his deception, he realised now. He was protecting himself, scared of rejection. It seemed stupid that the Sakurazukamori could feel such insecurity, and he knew that if the Tree was sentient, it would surely scoff at his ridiculous behaviour, but that was that. His mother had told him, a long time ago, that she had thought herself untouchable once, as he did. She never believed she'd come to care for anything, until she first laid eyes on her son. He had laughed at her then, unable to imagine a time when he would feel any such foolish emotion.

He glanced down at his lover, sipping gingerly at his coffee, and he swore he could hear his mother's ringing laughter in his head. Along with a delighted 'I told you so!'. He rested a hand on Subaru's forehead. "Your temperature is up. Please tell me you're not working today." He murmured, as Subaru accepted a magazine from Hokuto.

"No, I have the day off. I kind of expected to be ill." Seishirou's eyes snapped to his, and seconds later, Subaru was flushing, realising his mistake too late. He shrank under the older man's piercing gaze. "I mean, I – "

"Sakanagi." Seishirou muttered. "No wonder you were up with nightmares."

Subaru gave him a guilty look. "The job yesterday was a bit harder than I thought. I might have had to subdue some of the people involved with a spell..." Which invariably meant headaches and sickness would have beset Subaru in retaliation. Despite swearing off the animals in his clinic, Seishirou still redirected the sakanagi from his spells and his kills onto nearby creatures, everything from rats to stray dogs, something he thought Subaru suspected, but was trying hard to ignore. Subaru himself, when he used spells that invoked sakanagi, simply bore the backlash himself, quietly, unobtrusively – frustratingly.

"You should have told me."

"And have you snapping at me again?" Subaru muttered. "Just because you don't like to deal with your own mess..." He blanched, knowing that was unfair, that if Seishirou didn't deflect the backlash of his spells, he would have been killed a hundred times over. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean..."

"I know." Seishirou responded in a tight voice. Hokuto dithered, watching the exchange and chewing her lip, but it was Kakyou who broke the awkward silence.

"We all have our differences." He said evenly, flicking through a magazine showing off beautiful bunches of white and pink flowers. "Just like we all have to do the unavoidable sometimes." His warm golden eyes flickered up to meet Subaru's gaze briefly, then moved back to the page. Subaru flushed, and buried his face in Seishirou's shoulder again, stomach twisting. Once again he reminded himself that Seishirou's life was tied to the Tree, that it needed feeding, and that Seishirou would be the Sakurazukamori until he died. It should be enough that, since meeting and falling for Subaru, that Seishirou had changed; and did his best to only kill when contracted by the government. Or at the very least, only kill the guilty to satiate the Tree – as far as Subaru knew. He hated to admit that he doubted his lover sometimes, wondered if Seishirou's claims of innocence were just more lies...but with their history, and Seishirou's talent for deception, it wouldn't be far from likely.

And in the end, Subaru had decided he'd rather not know. Ignorance was not necessarily bliss, but it was easier to believe the best of Seishirou than to imagine the worst of the man. Especially since Subaru definitely couldn't live without him. He'd tried – and failed – twice. His fingers tightened on Seishirou's shirt, and he hoped that the assassin took it as the wordless apology it was. Seishirou's arms tightened around Subaru in response and reassurance – he wasn't angry. He had to try very hard not to be, sometimes – he was still one part human, six parts sociopath after all, and occasionally, he had to rein in his annoyance lest it melt into something inherently darker. That darkness had cost him far more than he had ever realised last time. He still struggled to see people as anything more than objects. Things. Only Subaru meant anything. Hokuto was bearable, Kakyou pleasant – he was a little fond of both, and he had admitted to himself he would miss them a little if they weren't in his life, but Subaru was the only thing he wasn't sure he could live without if he lost. Even in the other timeline, when he had abandoned a broken and sisterless Subaru to his loneliness and gone his own way...Subaru had still been alive. He'd still known where he was all the time, like some kind of creeping stalker. Not that Subaru had ever actually figured that out, of course, Seishirou was far too good at covering his tracks, and the Sumeragi far too occupied with his tumultous feelings.

He was determined not to lose him, not to screw up – again. Not least because actually, the thought of facing more of Hokuto's wrath should he hurt her baby brother again was a little terrifying. She was low-key, her talents in onmyoujitsu paling in comparison to those of her twin, yet she had unravelled time itself in her desperate quest for a happy ending. She was twisting destiny, and she had proved herself a wildcard Seishirou would be foolish to dismiss. So he would make all the effort he needed to to keep Subaru close, no matter how much he had to pretend to be human to do so. Subaru saw through him, probably, but the pretence kept them both just this side of sane. Strong fingers caressed the back of Subaru's neck gently, enjoying the feel of the baby-soft skin he found there, and the teenager shivered in response. He looked up at Seishirou, green eyes wide, and Seishirou held his gaze, appreciating how, even with only one eye that piercing shade of amber-gold, it could still hold Subaru utterly enthralled.

A giggly cough tore those beautiful green eyes from his face, and Subaru twisted in Seishirou's lap, squirming until the elder released him so he could slope over to the coffee machine and pour himself a second mug, blowing across the top. "So does this mean everyone has the day of today? No school, no work?" He asked, blinking owlishly through sleepy, half lidded eyes. Hokuto made a discontented noise. "I have class this afternoon, but it's only one class, and it is fashion design so I really shouldn't skip, but the three of you are welcome to go have fun without me! I can always join you afterwards." She grinned and winked at Kakyou, who was still flicking through the magazines. He glanced up to smile adoringly at her.

"I'm perfectly content to stay in." Seishirou threw in his opinion, eyeing the dark circles under his lover's eyes. "At the risk of sounding terribly domestic, my suggestion would be a film and a take away, given the lack of food in the fridge."

"Ehhhh, Sei-chan, you shouldn't let the fridge get empty!" Hokuto scolded, wagging her finger. "Subaru certainly doesn't remember to shop, _and_ he still has school on top of work. I think that makes it your responsibility. You are the man of the house after all!"

"_I _have two jobs. Hokuto-chan, you are so far beyond biased." Seishirou sniffed, ignoring both twins, one of whom had gone off into a teasing rant about Seishirou's fascination with schoolboys, the other grumbling about Hokuto's insinuation that he was any less of a man than Seishirou. He did quirk his lips, however, when Subaru vehemently protested a comment about misuse of a school uniform, face turning that characteristic shade of crimson. The twins bickered, Seishirou added a teasing comment the way he had when he had masqueraded as a vet, and Kakyou laughed.

Seishirou relaxed into the normality of the situation.

_...Bloodline..._

_24th August 1992_

"Subaru-kuuuuuun!" Subaru blinked and turned, smile widening as his sister, dressed as usual in vibrant colours and crazy patterns, dashed over to meet him, shopping bags in hand. A trio of similarly dressed girls hung back, looking inquisitive. Subaru felt very plain and boring in his dark grey school uniform as she threw her arms around him. "Let's walk home together!" Hokuto announced, waving a quick goodbye to her friends. "Kimi-chan, Hashi-chan and Yuki-chan were just admiring my engagement ring again." She giggled, linking her arm with his and flicking her fingers in front of his eyes. Subaru blinked, smiling indulgently and squeezing his sister's arm. He had vowed after he'd finally remembered the horrid loneliness and anguish he had felt after he had died in their 'other' lifetime that he would never, ever take her for granted again. He paused to gaze at the emerald on Hokuto's finger for a few moments, admiring how it perfectly matched her eyes.

"Did you skip?"

"Of course not, silly! You know I don't have classes on Wednesdays!"

"It's Wednesday already?" Subaru blinked, nonplussed. That was right, he'd worked all day Monday and half of Tuesday, only attending class Tuesday afternoon. A groan. "I miss so much I can't even remember what day it is..." He sighed, shaking his head. Hokuto made a sympathetic noise in her throat. "Maybe Obaa-sama is right, and I should drop out..."

"But what about your dream?" Hokuto whined, shaking his arm and pouting. "It's all you wanted to do!"

"Let's face it, I'm never going to be able to juggle two jobs when being the Head of the family is so...involving. 'My life isn't my own'" He echoed the words his grandmother had told him repeatedly since he had first begun training.

"Well...you know I'd support you whatever decision you made, right? I suppose it would be nice to have you around more often. Between classes, work, helping Sei-chan at the practice and studying, I hardly see you!" Subaru rolled his eyes, knowing there was little truth behind those words. Hokuto saw him every day, they almost always had dinner together. "Besides..." She continued. "You really should be around for Sei-chan more." Her voice was light and teasing. "You're a very hard worker, Subaru, and you'll never exactly be short of money. Even if you do keep doing stuff for free." She muttered.

"Hokuto-chan?"

"Hm?"

"Can we go out somewhere tonight?"

"Ehhh? But what about Sei-chan?" Hokuto blinked rapidly. "Not that I don't want to, but I'd hate to steal you away from him!"

"Don't be so dramatic." Subaru laughed. "He sees plenty of me, seeing as how I live with him. Besides, we're having dinner together, and then he's...he's working tonight." Something dark flickered across his gaze. "And I want to spend time with you." He shrugged.

Hokuto gave him a level look. "What was with the face?" She blinked at him, dragging him to a halt and clinging to his arm. "Are you still worrying about Sei-chan's job?"

Subaru winced. "Don't give me that look, Hokuto-chan...I know, it's part of him, he has to do it, I've heard it all. But that doesn't mean I'm comfortable with it. Doesn't it ever...bother you that he kills people for a living? That he...killed you once?" He whispered, heart clenching as he squeezed her closer. She sighed and reached up to run a hand through his hair.

"Yes. Sometimes, it bothers me a lot. When we first came back, I was almost afraid to face him. But...I know he's your special person, and even though he's strange, and dark, I know he cares about you very much. So I can forgive him, because...because now...I don't think he'd ever hurt you like he did before. He knows who he is, and who _you_ are, now. I don't think he wants to lose you. And he makes you happy. You love him too, I know, I can see it all over your face every time you look at him." She smiled a little sadly at him, knowing how much Seishirou had hurt her baby brother, and how much the younger boy still agonised over the callousness of his lover's previous actions. She also knew how intensely her brother loved the assassin, their fates were inextricably bound together after all. "Uh...Subaru? Where are we going?"

"To the practice. Seishirou-san isn't in this afternoon so I'm sorting out all the cages and feeding everyone."

"Ehhhh!" Hokuto scowled and shook his arm. "You don't have any time to do your school work and you're still doing Sei-chan's job for him? He's such a terrible husband! You have to tell him off. And why-are-you-still-calling-him-Seishirou-san!" She bit out, still shaking Subaru's arm. The younger twin let out a squawk as he was manhandled by his overzealous sister.

"We're not married, for goodness' sake!" He flushed. "And I call him that because I like it. And he likes it."

"You're both weird." Hokuto stuck out her tongue and huffed. "Well, I suppose I'd better help you if you ever want to get finished before dinner time. I hope Sei-chan's enjoying his afternoon off, he'd better be cooking something nice for you, since you're doing all the work!" She accompanied Subaru to the veterinary clinic, mercifully ceasing her incessant shaking of his arm, and waited, bouncing on the balls of her feet, while the younger twin unlocked the back door to let them in. Where she found all her energy, Subaru would never know. She seemed to have endless amounts of it, she was never tired, and always on the go. It was no small miracle that poor Kakyou could keep up.

After cleaning up at the clinic (while Hokuto proved herself more a hindrance than a help and spent more time spinning circles around the back room playing with the puppies than actually assissting Subaru), the pair linked arms and headed back to their apartment block. "So...what did you have in mind after dinner, then?" Hokuto ventured, poking her brother in the ribs.

"Maybe a film or something?" Subaru suggested. "Since Seishirou-san is out you could come over..."

"Well, that would save you being a third wheel at my place." Hokuto teased, tickling him.

He squirmed. "Cut it out. I don't mind if Kakyou-chan comes too, as long as you don't leave me watching the movie by myself." He teased right back. Hokuto just eyed him with a rogueish smirk, not a hint of a blush on her face. "...Tch. It's so impossible to rile you, isn't it?"

"Only because it's so easy to rile _you_ Subaru." She snorted, looping her arms around his neck and prompting a yelp when he was dragged off course by her violent hug. A hug that, moments later, was interrupted by the sudden onset of heavy rain.

"Eeeek!" Hokuto squealed and grabbed his hand. "I forgot to bring an umbrella..." She whinged. "It's August, what's with this weather?" The pair of them dashed the last two hundred yards to the apartment block and were already in fits of dripping wet laughter by the time they'd crossed the lobby. Without having to actually agree on anything, they headed for Subaru's apartment on the eighth floor first, dropping Subaru's sopping wet schoolbag and Hokuto's handbag in the hallway and stripping most of their clothes off before even entering the kitchen. Subaru had long since stopped being embarrassed (at least visibly) in front of Seishirou, and he'd never been bothered by Hokuto seeing his bare skin.

"Not that I am at all against half-naked twins on my doorstep, but what on earth are you two doing?" Seishirou blinked, looking up from his book from where he sat at the kitchen table as Hokuto pranced over to the kettle dressed in only her underwear and filled it with water.

"You're such a pervert, Sei-chan." She sang as Subaru flung a towel at her head. "Oof – it's pouring it down outside, and unless you want a very wet sister in law dripping all over your sofa..."

"It's raining?" Seishirou glanced up out of the window. "So it is." He put his book down and stood up, making his way over to the younger Sumeragi twin and grabbing the second towel out of his hands. He looped it around Subaru's shoulders and used it to tug him close, pressing a kiss to the boy's lips. "Your lips are cold." He murmured against them. "It wasn't supposed to rain today."

"Since when have weather reporters ever been right, though?" Subaru laughed, kissing Seishirou's cheek and prising the towel off him. He blinked when Seishirou fixed him with a Look. "What...? You think there's more to it?"

"It's just unusual." Seishirou muttered as he led them both over to the sofa and settled down on it, pulling Subaru half into his lap and beginning to towel the younger's hair dry. "Enough to put me on edge. So much cold rain, in August. Not to mention the wind and storms we've been having." He straightened up and dropped the towel on the floor, pulling the Sumeragi against his chest and tugging the red fleece blanket that draped over the back of their sofa over him. "Call it instinct, whatever."

"Whaaaaat?" Hokuto bounded over, now mercifully wrapped in the towel. She had tied it expertly around her hips and looped it over her shoulders, twisting it elegantly in that way only she could manage to make it look like it was meant to be there. "Sei-chan! Do you think someone's making all this horrible wet weather happen?" She plopped down, squeezing herself next to Subaru and thieving the end of the blanket to drape over her legs. Handing over a mug of hot chocolate, she blew over her own and looked up expectantly at Seishirou.

The assassin spared himself a moment to inwardly grin at the expectant look in four identical vivid green eyes as the twins stared up at him. It reminded him of their old routine, when he would talk and the siblings would listen avidly to his every word. Now, the Sumeragi twins were older, a little taller, and one had grown her hair a little longer. Different versions of the same pair, and always, always the mirror image of each other. Shaking himself from his musing, he answered her. "Someone, maybe. Something. Something that's upset the balance, I'm not sure. It's just...unexpected, and worth keeping an eye on." He shifted in place, and Subaru wriggled next to him, pulling the blanket up before it could fall off the sofa. "I don't like disturbances." Seishirou continued. "Well. Ones I'm not the cause of at least." He added, grinning when Subaru hit him in the arm with a roll of his eyes.

"Not funny."

"You're just not receptive to humour, Subaru-kun. Nevertheless. Be careful when you're out and about without me." He muttered. "Something isn't right with Japan at the moment, and I'd rather not find out what it is the hard way."

"...I'm not incompetent." Subaru protested, though both of them knew he was pleased at the very genuine concern Seishirou was displaying, evidenced by the blush on his face and the smile tugging at his lips.

Hokuto, feeling decidedly ignored, drained her hot chocolate and thumped the mug down. "I'm going to go before you two out-cute yourselves. Subaru, I'm going to borrow some of your clothes, is that okay? As fetching as I make this towel look, I'm not sure I want to leave the apartment in it." With Subaru's nod, she stood up and danced out of the room into the corridor, presumably heading for their bedroom.

Seishirou's arms snaked under the blanket and around his half naked lover. "Warming up yet?"

"Mm." Subaru nodded and wrapped his own arms securely around Seishirou's middle, squirming when long fingers tickled his bare skin. He called out a goodbye to Hokuto, who promised to come back over after dinner for their movie date before bounding out of the door.

"Movie date...?"

"She's keeping me company tonight." Subaru murmured. "It's been a while since we spent more than an hour or so together."

"If she wasn't your twin, I'd be jealous. In fact, I think I might be jealous anyway." And part of him wondered if that hadn't been a major reason he'd been so happy to kill her in the first place. A dark line of thought, and one he immediately felt guilty for, but looking back on their previous lives was always something of an odd point. Trying to find reason in all his previous stubborn and unyielding self had done was both enlightning and somewhat appalling. He was distracted from the thought by a pair of petal-soft lips pressing against his neck.

"Don't be an idiot. You have me to yourself now, don't you...?"

_...Bloodline..._

Another Author's Note: There we have it, the first chapter of Bloodline. I'm very excited about this story, as the plot and the antagonists are all mine. I'm branching out, and I would like to hope that my writing style and structure has improved a little from way back when I started Advocate.

Please, read and review! I love hearing from you all!

**Oh, and before I go, a quick extra...I am looking for active, one-on-one roleplayers of this and the X fandom. Particularly for this pairing, but with the option for further development, large scale AU's, etc etc. If anyone is interested, send me a PM and get in touch!**

_Next time: Unexplained deaths, Kyoto, wedding plans, Obaa-sama, and a rather explosive argument._


	2. Just A Job

Bloodline

Disclaimer: CLAMP owns it. I play with it.

Pairings: Seishirou x Subaru, Kakyou x Hokuto

Warnings: Violence, blood, implications of sex. If you have a problem with any of this...you're in the wrong fandom. This is CLAMP, so blood is a given.

Author's note: Thank you for the reviews! I've absolutely loved the support for both this and Advocate in what is, unfortunately, something of a listless fandom. I love you all, and please do keep reviewing!

_...Bloodline..._

Chapter Two – Just a job

_8__th__ September 1992_

It was unusually dark for August. The night sky had been obliterated by clouds, and Miyuki Takahashi shivered, pulling her coat a little tighter around herself and murmuring a little spell for warmth. Being an onmyouji had it's advantages, though sometimes being able to see the recently deceased was more of a curse than a gift. As one of only two female practising onmyouji in Japan, her talents were not wasted, and were often sought, though the work was not enough to keep her from the drudge of the office where she worked four days a week. She held out her hand, the first few drops of rain pattering onto her palm, and she praised her foresight as she pulled out an umbrella, opening it over her head to shield her from the rain. She'd worked late, hours after her shift should have ended at six, in the hopes that promotion was just around the corner. She and her husband were determined to put both their children through university and save them from debt.

Her breath misted in front of her, and she shook her head. "This weather..." Miyuki was so focussed on holding her warmth spell, she failed to notice the presence at her back before it was too late. Large hands shoved the small of her back, and she tumbled forward, only now sensing the malevolent magic in the air. The magical attack came seconds later, but years of training and fast reflexes saw her ofuda with the elegantly scrawled symbol and the tiny picture of a lily flower in the corner in her hands the second she'd leapt up off the floor, flying out towards her assailant.

She heard a muffled curse, and a shadow leapt to one side. Her sharp eyes outlined the tall figure of a man, dodging to one side to avoid the razor sharp lily petals she threw at him. Miyuki drew a shape in the air with her finger, beginning a protective chant just as a second attack lashed towards her. Her shield wobbled, but held, and she danced back, not even pausing to demand answers. Whoever this attacker was, he was trying to kill her, the strength of his attacks all the proof she needed. But why? She was just a simple onmyouji, she wasn't even all that talented. She had no enemies she was aware of, but this man, this assailant...he attacked with all the determination and precision of an...of an assassin.

She gasped, breaking into a run and hurling ofuda behind her in a desperate attempt to keep her shield up. If she could get home, maybe the wards around her house, strengthened by years of her effort, would keep this man out. She pushed all of her power into the shield, but, seconds later, a powerful spell shattered it into thousands of tiny points of light. The light faded, and Miyuki was thrown to the ground, panting hard. Blood splattered onto the ground as she coughed it up, and she blinked it from her eyes, too, felt it dripping from her nose and ears. She tried to struggle to her feet, but her attacker had caught up with her. He kicked her onto her back, and she stared up at a pair of pitiless eyes, glinting in the light of a flickering streetlamp. She went to let out her first scream for help then, scrambling away, but her voice wouldn't work, no sound came out.

"No-one can hear you anymore, Takahashi-chan." The man said pleasantly, pushing a stray lock of dark hair out of those horrible, punishing eyes. He pinned her to the floor by her arm, treading on it as he bent down to yank her bag from her shoulder. She squirmed and whimpered, heart thudding with fear and horror. A spell formed on her lips, but her brain was too muddled to make it happen, her eyes bugging as the man inspected the contents of her bag. "You have children?" He asked, flicking open her purse to reveal a picture of two youngsters grinning up at him, both dark-eyed and brown haired, like their mother.

Miyuki moaned, panic flaring up inside her, fearing for the lives of the two things most precious to her in the world. "Please, leave them alone, they've done nothing to you..." He said nothing, he simply flung the purse onto the ground and pulled something from his inner pocket. It glinted silver in the darkness, and, heart sinking even as it beat out of her chest, Miyuki recognised it as a ceremonial dagger.

"Sorry, Takahashi-chan." The man chuckled. "It's nothing personal. I just need your power."

"No...stay away from me, stay..." Her words turned into a strangled gurgle as the knife plunged into her chest. Blood bubbled up and out of her mouth, and her eyes bugged. Her entire body convulsed and she choked as the shadowy man began a chant, muttering low under his breath. The last thing Miyuki Takahashi was aware of was a bright light surging up the bloodied metal of the ceremonial knife and disappearing into the waiting hands of her assailant.

Her killer.

Then, all Miyuki knew was blissful, painless darkness.

_...Bloodline..._

Hokuto bit her lip as she waited for Kakyou to join her in Subaru's apartment. She sat with her brother in his and Seishirou's living room, watching the television. Her hand was tightly clenched in Subaru's – his was shaking. "How...terrible..." Subaru's eyes were wide and he was staring at the television screen as though uncomprehending.

"What's terrible?" Seishirou emerged, bleary eyed, from the bedroom. He'd worked late the night before and hadn't gotten in until the early hours of the morning.

"A woman was murdered last night...she was left sprawled in the street with a knife wound in her chest..." Hokuto murmured, eyes flashing to her twin. "We...we knew her. She was an onmyouji, like Subaru..." She trailed off as the newscaster reported that the woman, identified as Miyuki Takahashi, died somewhere around eleven the night before. It was Subaru who bit back a pained gasp when she continued, reporting that the woman's two teenage children had been found murdered the same way at her house. The husband was in police custody.

"Who...would do something like that?" Subaru choked, clenching his fists.

Seishirou didn't think it prudent to remind Subaru of his occupation right that moment, so he just ran a hand through his hair. Instead, he offered an explanation. "Might she have been a target _because_ she was an onmyouji? Why else would the culprit leave the husband but target the rest of the family?"

Hokuto paled. "What, you think someone's targeting...people like us?"

"It's hardly an unreasonable conclusion, Hokuto-chan. Then again, there might be many other possibilities. The woman might have had enemies within the Yakuza, for instance. You simply never know." He said detachedly. As alarming as the knowledge that someone might be killing off onmyoujitsu practitioners was, he didn't know the woman or her children, and as such did not care too much for their fate. The threat this culprit potentially posed to Subaru was another matter entirely, and worth investigation. Right now, however, the part of him that wasn't completely sociopathic knew that this would be a good time to offer some form of comfort to his lover, who was still staring at the television screen like he might be able to bring the woman back to life by sheer willpower. "How well did you know her?" He asked, wrapping his arms around Subaru's slender body from behind, taking the remote from him and turning it off. Subaru's hands clutched at his arms.

"Well...she was a practising onmyouji, and I'm the head of the Sumeragi...we knew each other fairly well, I suppose..." His voice shook. "I saw her and her children at least once a year...they were younger than me and Hokuto-chan...where were you last night, anyway?"

Seishirou immediately let go of Subaru as though he'd been burned, stepping away. A spark of anger flared in his eyes. "Are you – "

Green eyes widened. "No! Seishirou...no..." Subaru scrambled over the back of the sofa and half fell into his lover's arms, gripping him tightly. "I wasn't accusing...come on, I'm not an idiot...I just...wondered if you might have seen anything, or felt anything, that's all...it just...it takes a lot to kill us, you might have felt a surge of power, I...I wasn't...please don't be angry...I'm sorry if..."

"Shut up, Subaru-kun." Seishirou covered Subaru's babbling mouth with his own, kissing him even as the anger faded. "I should have let you explain." And actually, it shouldn't have been too outlandish a conclusion to draw – it wasn't like Seishirou hadn't targeted onmyouji in the past, something Subaru knew very well indeed. Not to mention he _had_ been out late the night before. It would have made anyone suspicious. In fact, he felt a little smug at how quickly Subaru had babbled out reassurances that no, he didn't believe it had been Seishirou who had committed the murder, despite the man's well known and much debated occupation.

"Tch. Actually, I'm on Sei-chan's side." Hokuto sniffed, tapping her foot and reminding everyone she was still present. "You did make that sound pretty accusing, Subaru." She admonished. "Poor Sei-chan doesn't leave a mess like that, and I should know."

"You are endlessly, confusingly supportive of my person, Hokuto-chan..." Seishirou said, shaking his head, dumbfounded. He buried his fingers in Subaru's hair, stroking it gently. Subaru was still trembling a little, as though unsure what to make of the interaction. He was staring at Hokuto, brows furrowed just a little to show he didn't approve of her joke. Seishirou sighed. "Her humour is almost as dark as mine, hn?" Subaru mumbled something along the lines of 'not funny', burying his face in Seishirou's chest. "You're getting tall." The assassin commented mildly, successfully breaking the tension. "But still not tall enough." He added, lifting the younger onmyouji until they were at eye level, one arm underneath Subaru's long legs. Subaru's fingers seemed to find Seishirou's hair automatically, carding through it until they rested at his neck. The intensity of their gazes had Hokuto smiling into her hand, a flutter of happiness in her chest. That they were able to love each other the way they did, despite the chasm of difference between them, was astonishing. And it wasn't the tragic love she'd been forced to watch Subaru endure before, either. It was what it should have been right from the start, had Seishirou not been such a complete idiot and Subaru grown any sort of spine.

Kakyou chose that moment to knock on the door and enter. "Ready to go?" He asked, bringing her down from her happy cloud and back to reality. She was travelling to Kyoto with her fiancé today to finalise some wedding plans with her family. They had, mercifully, approved her marriage (not that she would have cared had they had some kind of problem – she was a Tokyo girl through and through), but had asked that she get married at the family shrine in Kyoto and run all her wedding plans past the rest of the family. Meaning, Obaa-sama. As controlling as she was supportive, Lady Sumeragi was a force to be reckoned with. Hokuto knew Subaru was a little scared of her, though of course both twins regarded her with the utmost respect. She raised a hand to caress Kakyou's cheek.

"Of course. Are you nervous?"

"Terrified. But if I can handle you, I think your family will come pretty easily." Her husband-to-be replied without even a flicker of hesitation. She giggled, thumb stroking his skin as she bounced on her feet, all worries chased away by the warmth in his sparkling golden eyes. She picked up her suitcase and turned to her twin just as he crashed into her, pulling her into a tight embrace. "Take care, Hokuto-chan." He murmured, arms around her neck. She hugged him back with one arm.

"Oh, I'm only going to be away for a few days..." She tried to pass it off lightly, but they both knew how hard it would be for them to be separated for such a length of time.

"I know." Subaru sighed, letting her go. "Are you sure you don't want us to drive you to the station?"

"Stop fussing, Subaru-kun, we called a taxi." She tutted, poking him in the nose. Seishirou offered to carry their bags downstairs, but Hokuto laughed him off. "Stop pretending to be a gentleman. We all know you want us out of here so you can have Subaru all to yourself."

"Did I say that?"

"You don't have to!" She squealed as Subaru, long past being embarrassed by his sister's teasing, simply rolled his eyes as the pair launched into their usual bickering before Hokuto and Kakyou finally took their leave, bowing to the obnoxious blaring of the taxi horn eight floors below. Returning to the sofa in front of the television, he mulled over the broadcast they'd watched, thinking back to the last time he'd seen Miyuki Takahashi. She'd been well, and happy, if a little stressed – he'd been able to empathise. Her children were polite, well mannered if a little unruly, and he'd enjoyed the elder daughter's company. She'd loved animals too. He shuddered. They were so young. Too young to die like that.

Like Hokuto had been, a lifetime ago.

_...Bloodline..._

The shrine at Kyoto was quiet. Hokuto let her eyes drift shut as she and Kakyou walked hand in hand through the perfectly kept gardens, listening to the bubble of the water features and the chatter of birds. "It's so different to Tokyo." She laughed. "I had almost forgotten."

"Don't you miss it, when you're not here? The peace?" Kakyou squeezed her hand to indicate he needed to sit down soon, and she veered left, heading for the bridge over the little stream, the other side of which was a grassy bank. She pondered his question as they crossed the stream, watching the koi fish swim lazily against the current, barely moving forward against it.

"Maybe. I do miss being able to think. But...it's stuffy here, and old fashioned." She grimaced down at the pale pink kimono she was wearing. A dark pink sash and trim with a pretty pattern on it made it a little more modern, but it was obvious she wasn't happy out of her crazy designs. "Obaa-sama loves to dress us both up. At least you look good in yours." She grumbled, eyeing the pale boy's cream and black garment.

"I think you look lovely." He murmured as they sat down, leaning over to kiss her. As usual, his eyes were filled with that wondering happiness, as if he couldn't comprehend how he had gotten this lucky. His dreams had never shown him a future like this, a future within which he and Hokuto could be happy together. The girl grinned and leant her head on his shoulder. "I'm gladd Obaa-sama likes you." And Obaa-sama had. Very much so, if the pleasure that had sparkled in her aged eyes was any indication. Emancipated or not, Kakyou Kuzuki came from a very powerful family, and with his talent, Hokuto presumed that her grandmother was expecting powerful children – children that might become an heir to Subaru's position. Low-key Hokuto may be, but she was still a Sumeragi, and just because she didn't use her powers much did not mean she didn't have them.

And Subaru certainly wouldn't be having any biological children. She smiled faintly, trying to imagine Seishirou's reaction should he have to give Subaru up to a wife in order to preserve the family line. Kakyou's fingers were stroking her face, and she cuddled closer. "I don't think we'll get away with anything modern at the wedding. Obaa-sama has been waiting for years to organise another one, and she'll want it all traditional."

"What about what you want?"

"All I want is sitting right next to me, so I'm happy to let her take over. She'll do a lovely job, I'm sure. Though I'm not sure how she'll feel about inviting Sei-chan. Maybe we'll have to keep his last name a secret."

"Somehow I suspect she'll know exactly who he is the moment he crosses the threshold." Kakyou said mildly, already blushing at the intensity of Hokuto's comment.

"In that eventuality we'll all just have to shut up and be nice. No-one's going to ruin my wedding day, and if Sei-chan can manage to be civil, then I'm sure my family can, too." She wasn't convinced, however. Obaa-sama could be quite scary, and with Seishirou and Subaru's history, she might be inclined to be over-protective. But she wanted Sei-chan at her wedding. So he would be there, whether her uptight family liked it or not. Smoothing the folds of her kimono, she stood up, kicking off her wooden shoes and walking straight into the koi pond, letting the slight current pull at her toes. She wriggled them in delight, holding up the pale pink material. It was freezing, but felt wonderful.

In no time at all it seemed, the young couple were called back into the main house for dinner – a dinner they would share with Obaa-sama. If there were ever going to be awkward questions about her baby brother, this was when she would ask them. This morning's greeting and chat had been solely focussed on Hokuto and Kakyou, and their plans for the future, her grandmother unfailingly polite and attentive. But Subaru had always been the favourite, as the Head of the household and easily the most powerful onmyouji the Sumeragi family had ever had, and all courteousness would be waived in favour of a curious ex-Head enquiring about the activities of her young successor.

Hokuto had never, and would never, hold Subaru's position against him, she thought as she folded her knees beneath her and murmured the dinner rite with her fiancé and her grandmother. The rest of the family was conspicuously absent, and as Hokuto began to eat with her usual gusto, sure enough, Obaa-sama brought up her elusive twin.

"I haven't heard from Subaru-san recently." The elderly woman sniffed, as though offhandedly. Her voice was still strong, even now, there was nothing in it that suggested frailty or fragility.

"He's been busy." Hokuto said lightly. "You know, with school and work, you know how he is, he's so scatterbrained sometimes. He doesn't even know what day of the week it is half the time!" She laughed, fondly.

"Is that why you still live in the same block of apartments, so you can look after him?"

Thin ice. Very thin ice. It sounded like an innocuous question, but underneath there was a dig for information. Hokuto knew that Obaa-sama regularly rung Subaru at home, and that on at least a quarter of these occasions, Seishirou was the one to pick up. They had bluffed, claimed that he was Subaru's flatmate (though how they would explain away the single bedroom should she ever decide to visit was a constant point of contention between the four of them) because Subaru was far from ready to even attempt to discuss his sexual orientation with his extended family at all, let alone his choice of partner. At least Sei-chan wasn't making a big deal out of it. He understood the need for secrecy – the Sumeragi family was old fashioned, and though Subaru had always been very vocal about never getting married, ever, his protests had always been written off as a childish phase.

Even Hokuto couldn't guess what Obaa-sama would actually have to say on the subject of the teenage Head of the Sumeragi family being gay. And that his (much older) lover was the Sakurazukamori, the family's sworn arch-enemy was a whole new pot of fish. She considered her answer carefully. "Well, Kyou-chan and I have our own lives, but of course I still look after him! He's my baby brother after all." This, at least, got a fond smile – Hokuto's constant reminders that she was _precisely_ thirteen minutes older than Subaru had always been a bit of a family joke.

"And the...ah...flatmate of his, is he pleasant company for Subaru?"

"Sei-chan is lovely." Hokuto smiled, hoping Obaa-sama would just believe everything she said and not run background checks. Which she might, it wouldn't be difficult for someone of her status to pull some strings and find out the names and addresses of tenants in the twins' apartment block. Or, even more simply, she could send out her Shikigami to spy on them. However, Lady Sumeragi had always maintained that she trusted her grandchildren to be sensible, and she wouldn't intrude on their lives by spying on them. Which was a relief. "He's a pretty good cook, and he reminds Subaru to go to school when he's forgotten, stuff like that." She said vaguely, waving her hand. "Were all pretty close."

"Well...you know my thoughts on the matter." Her grandmother's voice held a note of disapproval. 'Flatmates' were dangerous, involving anyone from outside their circles was dangerous, and as far as she was concerned, Sei-chan was nothing more than a veterinarian.

"Subaru knows not to involve him." Hokuto said evenly, not really lying but not really telling the truth either. She dodged several more probing questions, and promised to remind Subaru to ring home once in a while, and in the end, it was a welcome relief when they were able to excuse themselves to their (traditionally, but depressingly) separate bedrooms. All this secrecy was giving Hokuto Sumeragi an awful headache.

_...Bloodline..._

_11th September 1992_

Subaru pushed wet hair out of his face, sighing into the horrendous weather. At least the rain wasn't cold tonight, he thought as he pulled his coat tighter about himself. He had long since given his umbrella to someone else (this seemed to happen every time he went out in the rain, much to Hokuto and Seishirou's consternation, luckily Hokuto had been in Kyoto for three days and wouldn't be there when he got home to call him out on it) but was regretting it a little now, soaked to the skin as he was. He glanced down at the fax in his hand, the paper bedraggled and smeary, and sighed with relief. He was almost there. The call had come through somewhat urgently this afternoon, someone had been found openly practising onmyoujitsu with no regard for the consequences. Local spirits were restless and neighbours had been spooked by the goings on around a small, neatly kept suburban house that sat atop the site of an old shrine. Subaru imagined the owners of the house had found some old books, or something, and had tried out the spells inside for a laugh, then realised what they could actually do with them and continued. Should reasoning fail, Subaru, as the Head of the Sumeragi family, be expected to deal with them appropriately.

That was, confiscate any and all regalia and bind any unleashed spirits or powers left floating around the house.

He wasn't used to jobs like this. Very few people got good enough at the practise to warrant an official visit, usually, it was one hastily researched spell or curse gone horribly wrong. By all accounts, whoever was casting from this house had been doing so for a while, and getting better. Steeling himself and trying to pretend he wasn't a drenched, skinny seventeen year old in a bright blue jacket and was in fact the legitimate Head of the most powerful and influential family of onmyouji in Japan, he drew himself up, shook the droplets of water from his hair and knocked on the grey front door. Under the verandah it was dryer, and Subaru fidgeted, trying to straighten out his appearance.

No-one came to the door after several long moments of anxious waiting, so Subaru tried again, rapping a little louder this time and calling out the name printed on the fax. All to no avail. He frowned, and pushed lightly on the door, blinking when it swung open. Immediately a sense of foreboding crept at his consciousness, and he shivered involuntarily. "Hello...?" He stepped inside, shaking his hair out again. Nothing. Creeping through the house, he glanced around, taking in the closed curtains and the dirty dishes on the side.

Then it hit him full in the face, a scent he was all too familiar with. Sakura. His stomach dropped, and he dashed through the house, flinging open the paper doors at the end of the hall. Inside was a shrine, possibly containing original stonework from the building that had stood here before the developers had turned the area residential. There was a strong presence here, and the scent of death, recent and terrible judging by the restlessness of the household spirits. Subaru winced, there was a small splatter of blood painting the wall in front of him, but otherwise, no physical hint of any struggle. Subaru suddenly felt very sick. He knew exactly who had been here, and he knew exactly what had happened barely hours before. He staggered back against the wall, running it over and over in his head, confronted once again with the knowledge that he was in love with a sociopathic assassin.

Several miles away, Seishirou Sakurazuka sat down on the sofa and grabbed the post-it note and copy of the fax from the kitchen table, scanning it quickly. His brow creased into a furrow as he reached the end, even as he mentally rolled his eyes at Subaru's cute addition of a smiley face at the end of the post-it explaining his absence. This could get...messy. This was one of those rare occasions where the lines between their jobs blurred – when onmyoujitsu practitioners became dangerous. His own instructions had come yesterday morning, in an unmarked envelope with no return address. They had told him, explicitly, that the couple who lived in the same house Subaru had been sent to were to be eliminated. Apparently they had killed already with their practise, and endangered several more. It mattered little to Seishirou, a contract was a contract, and he would be paid handsomely, so who cared what the pair had actually done to deserve execution? More than that, the Tree would be happy for a few days, which meant more time to be spent with Subaru.

Although that looked less likely now. To someone as sensitive and aware of the Sakurazukamori's modus operandi as Subaru, Seishirou's marks would be all over the house, though the police would find nothing at all. He had done it in the early hours of this morning, so there was little chance all traces of his magic would have evaporated.

And he had a funny feeling Subaru wouldn't take it well. The teenager tried his best to ignore Seishirou's homicidal tendencies, accepting that everyone worked for a living, and just as Subaru was tied to his family legacy, so too was Seishirou. But to be confronted with the assassin's outright scorn for human life first hand was bound to spin the altruistic Sumeragi into a confusing bubble of anger, fear, upset and disbelief.

He leant his head back on the sofa and crumpled the fax in his hand with a sigh, checking the clock on the wall. Five past five. Nothing to do but await the storm, he supposed. He and Subaru argued as much as any other couple, though they were always quick to make up. He wondered if Subaru would be angry enough to start a fight tonight, when he invariably got home and confronted Seishirou about the job that had overlapped with his own.

He must have dozed off, because when the door finally did slam open to reveal a slightly damp Subaru with anger blazing in his eyes, the clock read ten to eight. "They didn't have to die." Were the first words out of his mouth, even as Seishirou sat up, straightening his undone shirt in a futile attempt to make it look like he hadn't just slept on it.

"They did." He deadpanned, looking Subaru in the eye. "Both of them. The contract came through yesterday. In my defence, I had no idea you were even involved until I came home earlier and saw your note, and the fax." His voice was guarded, trying to avoid the argument.

"I could have...I was going to go there to warn them! You can't just...they weren't..." Subaru was losing coherency, which meant he was too upset to form sentences. Seishirou stood up, spreading his hands out.

"I can't refuse a contract. Someone up high decided they were dangerous."

"And you didn't even think to check? To find out what – "

"No." Seishirou cut him off, a glint of anger in his single amber eye. "I get a contract, I fulfil it. I also kill at my leisure whenever the Tree fancies a snack, Subaru-kun. I am a killer. I know it, you know it. I don't ask questions." He snapped. Subaru let out a distressed noise, fists clenching, and anger welled up inside Seishirou. "Is this what it's going to be like every time our jobs collide? Because they will, a lot. We're opposite sides of the same coin, and you cannot change me. Not all of me, anyway." He said bitterly.

Subaru reeled back. "Oh, I'm so sorry to have inconvenienced you by loving you!" He hissed, green eyes blazing.

"Sometimes I think it would be easier if you didn't!" Seishirou snapped back. "It would certainly be one less thing for me to worry about all the time!"

"Are we seriously going to have this argument again? You admitted it, you lost the bet, you lost it before you even started that stupid fake year, YOU were the one who screwed me over, you made my life an absolute nightmare!"

"I thought you'd decided not to use that against me anymore." Seishirou replied coolly. "You're so volatile...look, you're angry, and upset, why don't you go over to Hokuto's and cool off?" Cool off. Seishirou could do with that right now. He knew he was getting angry, and that didn't happen very often. Bad things happened when Seishirou lost his cool, many of the things he regretted in life were the things he did whilst seriously pissed off. Not many things rattled Seishirou, but seeing Subaru acting this way was one of them. He didn't know how to deal with Subaru when he was angry, it was such a tremendously rare occurrence. And he had no defence to offer the younger boy, save the things he repeated over and over. _I have to do it. This is my job. Don't change who I am. I am the Sakurazukamori._

Subaru flinched, knowing a dismissal when he heard one. "This is my damn apartment." He scowled, cheeks tinged an angry pink. "And what do you mean, _I'm_ volatile? You're the homicidal one who just murdered two people who could have been saved!"

Seishirou lashed out before he could stop to think about it. He just wanted to be away from the boy who drove him so crazy, right that second. The back of his hand cracked across Subaru's face with such force that the teenager's head snapped to one side and he stumbled, throwing out a hand to catch himself on the wall. He cried out and winced, hand flying to his face. Fuelled by the anger, and more than a little shocked at his loss of control, Seishirou seethed, grabbing hold of the younger's collar and jerking him close, single gold eye flashing angrily. The only way he could think of in his angry state to get Subaru out of the apartment and out of his hair for a little while was to shock him, frighten him into leaving. "I was so stupid to entertain the thought that this...that we might work, Subaru-kun! I am the Sakurazukamori, and you're the thirteenth head of the Sumeragi clan! You're out of your mind if you think this can ever really work out! You devote your existence to preventing the abuse of onmyoujitsu. Subaru-kun, I _am_ the abuse of onmyoujitsu!" He shoved the teenager back, making him stumble back a second time. Subaru winced when his head hit the wall, and Seishirou's fists clenched, his shoulders shaking with pent-up rage that loosed itself in a single, brutal punch to the wall.

"Seishirou-san..." Subaru leant against the wall, holding his cheek with his hand. He'd overstepped, and made the older man angry, and suddenly, he was terribly afraid, especially since the words Seishirou was now spitting at him were harsh, and biting, and so horrifically _true_. "Please, calm down, we – "

"Get out. Just get out. I'm sick of you whining and flinging accusations at me every time I kill some nameless nobody. I'm an assassin, Subaru-kun, it's what I do. The Tree needs feeding, and I have to feed it, whether with some guilty, corrupt politician, a couple of worthless murderers or some faceless child. I don't have a choice, and funnily enough, I've had twenty years to get used to it!" Seishirou ran an agitated hand through his hair and turned to stalk out of the room, seeing as Subaru was making no effort to leave.

He was stopped by a pair of slender arms winding their way around his waist. "Stop it. Just stop it. You don't frighten me, Seishirou..." Subaru's voice had lost all of it's bite, there was nothing but quiet desperation and a subtle distressed shake.

"Let go." But Seishirou's voice had lost all of it's conviction. He was as bound to the gentle boy behind him as Subaru was to him, he knew he didn't really want the younger onmyouji to leave. Subaru's arms tightened around his waist, making that little spark of light flare up in Seishirou's chest. He slowly turned around. "I don't understand why you don't hate me..." He murmured, hesitantly reaching to gently trace the reddened handprint on the boy's face. His heart constricted – he hadn't laid a hand on Subaru with intent to hurt for a long time.

"Sometimes, nor do I." Subaru said dryly, and Seishirou flinched, reminded once again that Subaru remembered everything now, everything from before. He remembered what it felt like to lose a loved one, remembered Seishirou's idea of fun – brutal torture at the hands of someone he loved. "But I don't. I love you. Deal with it."

Seishirou couldn't help but laugh weakly, their argument seeming worthless in the face of the bland admission. Subaru had blossomed in the weeks they'd been together as a couple. His shy childishness had melted into a sort of chipper-but-dry wit, and his newfound blunt confidence still occasionally threw Seishirou for a loop. He sobered quickly, however. "Forgive me, Subaru-kun. I hurt you..." He pushed Subaru back against the wall behind him gently, leaning close and folding his arms around the younger man. Subaru's fingers tightened on Seishirou's shirt, and he could feel the slight shake of broad shoulders. It reminded him that even now, Seishirou struggled to cope with the onslaught of human emotion he shouldn't even be feeling. It made him shiver, knowing he was the only one who could draw this side of Seishirou out. He was the man's only weakness. He felt...bad for flinging accusations, now. They argued about the older man's job a lot, but deep down, Subaru knew that being the Sakurazukamori was everything that made Seishirou Seishirou.

He lifted his head just in time for the assassin to press a gentle kiss to his lips, hand reaching to tilt the younger's chin up to meet him. Subaru's arms looped around his lover's neck, pulling him down. "It's okay...it's alright, we're okay." He murmured against Seishirou's lips, even as the older man moved to wrap his arms around Subaru's legs and lift him up, a habit he'd picked up in the weeks they'd lived together. The young onmyouji wrapped his legs around Seishirou's waist and allowed the assassin to hold him off the floor. Seishirou pulled back to look up at him, a weary sort of contentment in his mismatched eyes.

"...Do you want a takeaway?"

_...Bloodline..._

Author's Note: Sooooo. All is not well in the Sakurazuka-Sumeragi household. But we all knew THAT would happen, didn't we? It's not like poor Seishirou and Subaru are at all compatible. (laugh) Still, I hope the casual fluff and the ease with which they forgive and forget it satisfying all your fluffy urges. This Seishirou is a lot more genuinely light hearted than other versions I have written, though those lovely, dark little urges are still present, as is his penchant for lying, scheming, manipulating, etc etc.

But at least they're happy. Ish.

Please read and review! Every time I read a new review I write more and more, I love reading your comments, so please, if you've enjoyed the chapter, take the time to leave a few words! Thank you!

_Next time:penguins, fluff, a vengeful witch and a rival._


	3. The Ice Witch

Bloodline

Disclaimer: CLAMP owns it. I play with it.

Pairings: Seishirou x Subaru, Kakyou x Hokuto

Warnings: Violence, blood, implications of sex. If you have a problem with any of this...you're in the wrong fandom. This is CLAMP, so blood is a given.

Author's note: Plot! Finally! I sort of introduced it last chapter, but it really thickens here, and we meet our antagonists! So, fair warning, there are OC's in this chapter. I like to think they're good ones. Let me know what you think of them!

_...Bloodline..._

Chapter Three – The Ice Witch 

_24__th__ September 1992_

A slender pair of arms looped themselves around Seishirou's neck, and the tall man glanced over his shoulder to smirk indulgently at his sleepy partner. "Good morning. Or should I say afternoon?" He chuckled, glancing at the clock above the sink. Subaru groaned and dropped his head onto Seishirou's shoulder.

"You could have woken me up...I've wasted the whole day..."

"You needed the sleep, Subaru-kun." Seishirou chided, putting the pen down on top of his crossword puzzle. "I am quite able to entertain myself on our day off and let you sleep."

Subaru pulled a face. "But we hardly ever get time off together, I don't want to sleep through it!" Seishirou tugged the younger down to kiss him on the nose, bringing one of his signature blushes to his cheeks.

"We can still go out, it's only a quarter past midday."

"Where were you thinking?" Subaru yawned. He sloped over to the kitchen counter and hunted for something to eat, leaving Seishirou to admire his outfit – another Hokuto special, though since the twins had turned seventeen she had been toning it down a little as per Subaru's request. Black jeans showed off the young man's slender legs, and an emerald green jumper that hugged his torso and upper arms but belled out at the wrists, the material gathering there in floaty swathes until it met the elasticated hem that almost covered Subaru's hands.

"Those jeans look excellent." He commented. "I was thinking the aquarium. We haven't been in a long time, and I think the penguins might be pining for your company."

Subaru stuck out his tongue childishly.

"Don't stick out your tongue like that unless you want me to bite it." Seishirou dead-panned, gratified by the alarmed little squeak and bright red blush the words elicited.

"How the hell do you manage to make that sound sexy in _that_ voice?" Subaru's own voice was a whine, and he'd put his hands on his hips in a very Hokuto-like pose.

"What voice?" Seishirou was the picture of innocent enquiry.

"The one that has no emotion in it whatsoever." Subaru scowled, still blushing.

Seishirou was still laughing half an hour later when escorting a pouting Subaru out of the apartment block and onto the street. "Hey, it isn't raining for once. We can walk, enjoy the sunshine." He commented, smiling when Subaru easily slid his hand into Seishirou's larger one and jogged along beside him. He still had to walk fast to keep up with Seishirou's long-legged stride, and the older man would never fail to find it cute.

The aquarium was busy. It was one of those attractions that was indoor and outdoor, but the sunshine had Tokyo's rain-weary residents out in droves. Subaru didn't mind, though he wasn't so keen on crowds, he liked the aquarium too much to be driven away by them. Seishirou was as at ease as ever despite the noisy gatherings of people, and led the smaller onmyouji around by the hand, his height and presence carving a path through the other visitors. "Can we go and see the penguins?" Subaru giggled, a look of childish glee on his face. Seishirou smirked, pulling him into a hug which turned into a half nelson as he ruffled Subaru's hair, ignoring the boy's squawking protest. "Seishirou-san!"

"You are so predictable." Nevertheless, they headed in the direction of the penguin enclosure, and true to form, Subaru leapt up onto the railings and leant over.

"They're so cute and clumsy."

"Like you, then."

"Shut up, Seishirou. I mean, until they get into the water, then they're amazing...watch them." Subaru's eyes followed one of the penguins, entranced, and Seishirou entertained the thought of buying the teenager the biggest stuffed penguin he could find and putting it in their kitchen. It wouldn't fit of course, but the thought was amusing enough. He watched Subaru from a few paces behind him, eyes taking in every minute detail, from the way his slender fingers supported his face as he leant over the railings to the way his green jumper lifted up just a little to expose a pencil-thin line of white skin. Subaru was tapping one foot against the low concrete wall of the enclosure, the other up on tiptoe so he could see properly.

Seishirou indulged, stepping up behind the boy and winding his arms about his middle, pulling him back against his chest. "Only if I can watch them from here." He murmured in Subaru's ear, inwardly chuckling at the way he squirmed and went red. Being 'out' in public was still a bit of a sore point. Subaru was happy to hold his hand, but anything more than that and he started to worry what people around them would think of them. Seishirou of course, had never cared, and would never care what the stinking masses thought of him. Subaru hadn't been impressed when Hokuto had commented that he looked enough like a girl for the eyes of the ignorant, self-absorbed public to slide right over them.

They didn't of course. He could already hear a giggling group of schoolgirls behind them, and a few murmurs from 'normal' couples walking past. "Seishirou-san..."

"Do you really care that much?" His partner asked him gently. "They don't know you from the emperor, they'll likely never see you again, and they're ignorant." He added, squeezing Subaru.

"But...it's still..."

"Wrong? Really? After all the shit we went through to get here, you still think it's wrong?"

"No, of course not...I didn't mean wrong. I just meant that people still don't really...accept it, do they? It's still not seen as the proper way to do things."

"We're not talking about the public anymore, are we." Seishirou said shrewdly, plucking Subaru off the enclosure wall and setting him carefully down on the ground, gripping his shoulders and turning him to face him.

Subaru fidgeted, picking at his long sleeves. "How did you guess?"

"Your face. You look like a kicked puppy. Are you still frightened of what your family will think?" Seishirou stroked his thumb down the younger boy's cheek, heedless of the outbreak of whispers the intimate action elicited behind them. To his credit, the painfully shy onmyouji didn't ease away from him as he sometimes did when the disapproval of onlookers started to get to him, instead he leant into the touch, taking comfort from his lover's presence. It induced smugness within the assassin, no-one else could touch Subaru like this and expect to get away with it. Everything from a playful ruffle of soft black hair to a mischievous tickle to his sides...they all belonged to him.

"If I said yes, would you be upset with me?" He responded quietly, ducking his head. "It...it's not that I'm ashamed of you...it's...just..."

"I'm not upset." Seishirou said quickly, cutting off what would inevitably be a rambling half-rant. It was the truth. It was not upset, but anger he felt, anger at the world for actually daring to care who he fell in love with, anger at Subaru's family for eliciting such a fear, and perhaps even a little anger at Subaru himself for lacking the bravery to admit his feelings. Not that he would ever tell the young Sumeragi head as much. He still had to rein in his temper with the onmyouji, still so gentle and impressionable. For all his life experience, Subaru remained naïve and determined to believe the best in Seishirou. So for the sake of their relationship, Seishirou would continue to present the best side of himself to Subaru. Now he knew there _was_ a best side. "I do not have a family to look upon me and my choice of life partner with disapproval. I do not know what it's like to be afraid to tell anyone. Those whose opinions I actually count – that is, yours and perhaps Hokuto's, are the only ones I need to care about. You have your extended family, and the weight of your decision lies heavier on you than it does on me."

Apparently, this was precisely what Subaru wanted to hear, as the boy hurled himself against Seishirou's chest, burying his face in the material. He heard a muffled 'I love you' whispered against him, and he smiled indulgently and wound his arms around the Sumeragi. He was good at this, he decided as he chanced a glance at their audience, daring them to say something. He supposed he managed to avoid the heckling some men got for being sexually inclined towards other men just by being who he was. One look at his pitiless eyes and wicked smirk usually sent anyone who might try to jeer him running for the hills.

Not that he considered himself gay in the strict sense of the word. He knew Subaru did, the teenager had never been interested in girls beyond friendship despite the attention he attracted from them, and once he'd realised he was in love with Seishirou, it made sense in his head. Seishirou on the other hand had never been interested in much of anything. Not asexual, not in the least, but never had he let himself restricted by silly things like gender when choosing partners. You couldn't go through adolescence with a face like Seishirou's and escape exploring your sexuality.

In short, he cared for beautiful things, he supposed, and he had inherited that from his mother. The only thing he had prized to the extent normal humans considered to be 'love' was Subaru, and the little minx knew it, too. The boy basked in the attention Seishirou paid him, and it made him all the happier now that he could more accurately gauge the man's sincerity.

And, for the first time in his life, perhaps Seishirou's affections were indeed sincere. A lifetime of sociopathy and flawless pretense had been disrupted, and Seishirou was rather enjoying the disturbance of their supposed destiny. Two sides of the same coin indeed, the few times the pair had used their magic in tandem had proved spectacularly explosive, and Seishirou found himself rather looking forward to the events of 1999 now that things had turned out so differently. For him, for Subaru, and he supposed, Kakyou too. The man had been in a self induced coma and wanted to die the first time around, but now, seven years before the Kamui and his twin star would awaken, he was about to get married, and presumably start a family. Certainly the blonde man was a stronger character than ever, and Seishirou and Subaru were all the more powerful and capable now that they operated as a team.

He considered the three young adults in his life as something like a family, which was an alien concept. He'd had his mother for a few years before he'd killed her, but she'd never been a mother in the traditional sense of the word – he suspected normal mothers were a little less touchy-feely than she had been – not that he had any basis for comparison. Subaru and Hokuto's mother was long dead and they didn't remember her, and Kakyou's was hardly a role model. It wouldn't dawn on him to ask anyone else, of course.

His thoughts remained gentle until Subaru finally pulled away from him, tucking his lengthening hair behind his ears as he flushed. "You're looking at me funny."

Seishirou pulled a face. "That was romantic, Subaru-kun." He stepped back with a wicked grin. "Come on, before all these gawkers trip over their own tongues." Or go green with envy, Seishirou mused, appreciating the attractive flush on the boy's pale cheeks and the way his hair was messy from where he'd buried his head in Seishirou's chest, and most of all the way he still managed to look innocently guileless despite the almost indecent tightness of his clothing.

He turned, striding away from the penguins and heading for his own favourite exhibit – the sharks. Predictable, perhaps, but all hunters learnt to appreciate a fellow predator.

_...Bloodline..._

The air sparkled with thousands of tiny crystalline ice particles as light filtered down into the deep fissure. The walls shimmered such a bright shade of blue it was almost blinding, and they hummed with old ward magic. Here, in this place, high in the mountains and so far into uninhabitable territory that there was no chance of discovery, a witch-woman pored over a crystal bowl set on a pedestal carved out of an icy stalagmite. The bowl was filled with frozen water, the top layer misty and slightly crackled, like a broken mirror. The woman's age was impossible to guess, she looked young, but she was a creature kept alive by magic and the lifeblood of hundreds. She had lived for centuries, but now even she could not find the will nor the patience to remember precisely how long she had waited here. How long it had been since she had walked freely upon the earth.

Her name was Hisa. That was it, she had no family name she could clearly remember, having long since scorned any ties to the mortal world. She cared little for her name, save that it meant 'everlasting'. Something she had every intention of being. Her companion, a tall man dressed all in black with icy eyes the colour of the walls of her prison, was called Kamizaki. Hishiro Kamizaku, seventeenth head of a once-powerful onmyouji clan. Not a pleasant man, she considered, glancing over at him. He was handsome enough, dark haired and well built, smartly dressed. Not that she knew much about modern fashion, she hailed from an age of colourful kimonos and prideful samurai. Since he had stumbled on her prison in his quest for power, he had attempted to fill her in on the goings-on of the last few hundred years, not that she cared all that much. No, she had but one dealing with the present.

Her nails grated across the surface of the ice in her Seeing-bowl, then tapped against it in agitation. An image shimmered beneath the surface of the ice, and the crystal bowl sang with magic. The water beneath the frozen layer of cracked ice rippled, and the image showed the pair of magicians their hated common enemy, the reason fate had led one to seek out the other: the thirteenth head of the Sumeragi clan. He was still a boy, barely out of childhood, Hisa thought, a scornful grimace painted on her face. A slightly easier target than his predecessors might have been, perhaps, but certainly not an adversary to be taken lightly. It was only with Hishiro's help, feeding the power he stole every night into her own body, that she was able to scry like this and finally lay cool grey eyes on the current head of the cursed family who imprisoned her here in the icy far reaches of the mountains, bound by their blood, and their magic. Her nails screeched across the ice again as she watched this child, this hated scion of a traitorous family, darting between throngs of people. He was smiling, laughing at something ahead of him that she couldn't yet see.

Kamizaki leant over, squinting. "Can you – "

"Hush." She snapped, not catching the face her companion pulled at her.

He remained silent for a few moments, fidgeting like a chastised child, then burst out with an impatient, "Is it him?"

"You tell me, you should know the face of the one you so obsessively hunt."

"Lady, maybe in your day the Sumeragi were real out-in-the-open celebrities, but trust me, this kid is famous by name only. The family is notoriously reclusive now, they rarely operate out in public. I knew he was in his mid teens and lived in Tokyo, but Tokyo is huge, and it's not like I could ever have found him like this." Hishiro wrinkled his nose as he waved a hand at Hisa's dish. Hunting the little scion of the Sumeragi was harder than he had ever anticipated. His name alone was enough to warn off any subtle approach – he could not pretend to have a job without the previous Sumeragi head launching a full investigation before allowing her little grandson to get mixed up with a Kamizaki.

"Perhaps that is not so surprising." The witch replied with a thoughtful hum. "Onmyoujitsu is a dying art, like all the old magics, and though the weight of his name carries political power, his kind are few and far between. The mundane are more likely to fear and shun them than stand in awe." They watched as Subaru Sumeragi looped his arm through another man's elbow, practically swinging off his arm and beaming.

"Who's that, do you suppose? A friend? Family?" Kamizaki asked.

There was no reply for several minutes as Hisa stared intently at the image of the boy talking animatedly to the young man, still clinging to his arm. "Look at his eyes." She said suddenly. "Yellow, like those of a bird of prey or hunting cat, and devoid of empathy. The way he walks and the way he seems to unconsciously assess anything and everything around him like a natural predator. That is Sakurazukamori."

Kamizaki choked on his own tongue. "Excuse me? You can tell he is one of that clan just by looking at that little picture of him?"

"First of all, this is more than a mere picture, you imbecile. Secondly, Sakurazukamori haven't changed since I walked the earth freely. I knew several quite well. They have this wonderfully nasty little habit of killing their predecessors to claim the title. Did you know there is only ever one, though many think they are a clan?" She smirked when Kamizaki shook his head. "Trust me." She continued. "I know how to recognise a fellow murderer."

Kamizaki allowed this to sink in, silently fuming over her 'imbecile' comment but too intrigued by the Sakurazukamori to act on it. "But...what on earth is the Sakurazukamori doing with the scion of the Sumeragi? I thought they were sworn enemies..."

"They were not, in my time." Hisa mused. "Though the clans were far from friendly and there was a healthy rivalry between them, they accepted the other's role in protecting Japan without question, because both operated directly beneath the emperor. As your clan used to." She added, an incendiary smile on her face. As she expected, Kamizaki rose to her bait.

"As was our right! We were their equals in every way!" He snarled, blue eyes flashing with rage.

"And now you are the only one left of a dwindling line." She taunted lightly. "Still. Little Sumeragi would not be head of the family for nothing. Either he is a very powerful child, or he is the last Sumeragi capable of bearing the title. Perhaps a little of both." She sat back against the icy walls of her prison. "It could well be that his line is dwindling, too." She steepled her fingers. "And if it isn't, it certainly will be by the time I am through with him."

"Go. You know his name, and you know his face. Find out everything you can, where he lives, where he goes to school, everything – including his ties to Sakurazukamori. If they are at all friendly – at least, as friendly as the Sakura assassin gets, and he is not just toying with the Sumeragi scion, then we will need to tread very carefully. He is not an enemy I would like to make."

"Certainly you are more powerful than him?" Kamizaki scoffed. "Or...at least, you will be once you get out from under this heap of rock."

"I wouldn't know. I have never challenged his kin before." She waved her hand, indicating that the conversation was over and dismissing him.

She waited until she heard the man's affirmation that he would obey her, and felt the magic in the deep cavern ripple signalling his departure. She wished with all that was left of her heart that she could do the same, and a wave of jealousy became a torrent of hatred, focussed on the skinny boy in the ice before her. She tapped her nails once more, sliding one down the image of that too-pretty face and drawing it across his throat. Unbidden, her eyes travelled left, to where the Sakurazukamori walked alongside the Sumeragi, and she shifted in place, desperate to know their connection.

"I wonder, Sumeragi-kun...do you know what he is...?" If he did not, then she would have to fight the Sakurazukamori for her prey, for he would waste time on nothing more or less than that which he hunted. If he did know...well. If they were supposed to be sworn enemies as Kamizaki suggested...that made Subaru Sumaeragi all the more interesting.

_...Bloodline..._

_26th September 1992_

"Mou." Hokuto sniffed. "I hoped they would remember we were coming home today and put some food in our fridge." She shut the door and rubbed her flat stomach. "I'm hungry."

"Hokuto-chan, they barely manage to keep their own cupboards full through gross negligence. Don't make a point of this, you'll only guilt trip Subaru-chan to tears again." Kakyou teased, slipping his arms around his fiancée's waist and rocking her gently.

"I never make Subaru cry!" Hokuto protested, leaning back and sighing happily. After returning from Kyoto, the pair had made a quick decision to go away again, only this time, to share some time alone together without any of her family present. So, a few days in Osaka later, which included a rather eventful evening in a hot springs where, in order to be allowed to stay together Hokuto had convinced Kakyou to pretend to be a girl, they were feeling suitably couple-y and content. Subaru and Seishirou hadn't murdered each other or died of starvation in her absence while she had been in Kyoto, so she had felt a little better about leaving her baby brother the second time. She was rather hoping, actually, to make this holiday lark a regular occurrence. She'd quite like to take Subaru to a hot spring, too.

"Perhaps we should impeach on their hospitality and raid their kitchen." Kakyou suggested. "If there's anything edible in there, of course."

"Highly unlikely, I think those two subsist on take away and dinners out when I don't cook for them. Sei-chan can cook really well, he just can't be bothered. And Subaru would burn toast." Hokuto tutted. "Still, we can but try, and we should go and let them know we're home safely, anyway." With that, she bounced happily out of the kitchen, and then out of the apartment, leaving Kakyou to tidy their suitcases to one side and lock the door behind him.

By the time he had caught up with Houto, she had let herself into her twin's apartment and disappeared inside. He could vaguely hear her cooing over something in the dark living room, so he followed the sound of her voice.

"That's so adorable." She whispered to him as he followed her inside, only to see Subaru and Seishirou sprawled on the sofa together, still fully clothed. The remnants of a take away (surprise surprise) littered the coffee table, and the radio chattered quietly on the sideboard. Subaru was lying on top of the assassin, head pillowed on his arm, which was draped over Seishirou's chest. Seishirou's head rested on the arm of the sofa, and he had one arm loosely slung over the younger onmyouji, the other left to dangle off the edge.

"Guess they were tired." Hokuto chuckled. "Oh look! Subaru actually managed to get to school today. I hope he caught up a little bit." Kakyou smiled, Subaru was indeed dressed in his school uniform, and he laughed quietly into his hand when his fiancée made another off-colour comment about Seishirou's schoolboy fetish. "Should we wake them do you suppose?" She asked when she had recovered from her fit of silent giggles.

"Well, they'd be more comfortable in bed, I should imagine." Kakyou grinned. "But maybe you should take a picture first." He added, a touch of mischief to his voice.

"Why, husband-to-be of mine...I believe I'm rubbing off on you!" Hokuto giggled with glee, and dashed off to find her brother's camera, returning moments later and snapping the pair in their tangled sleep on the sofa. The bright flash had Subaru stirring, and his eyes blearily opened, swivelling in their direction. The sleepy noise he made set Hokuto off giggling again, and she didn't manage to recover until Subaru had dragged himself off the sofa and was in the process of trying to straighten his school blazer, face bright red.

"Hokuto-chan, stop laughing, we were tired." He whined, shaking Seishirou's shoulder to wake him. Instead of getting up or opening his eyes, Seishirou just grabbed the boy's arm and yanked him back down on top of him, wrapping his arms around him and twisting on the sofa so the younger was well and truly sandwiched between the back of it, and Seishirou's chest.

"Go away, Hokuto-chan." He said pleasantly, still not bothering to open his eyes.

"Oh, that's a lovely way to treat your sister in law." Hokuto sniffed imperiously. "Take Subaru to bed, Sei-chan."

"Hm, now there's an idea."

"H...Hokuto-chan!"

Hokuto giggled and took her fiancee's arm. "Just let me raid your cupboards and we'll go." She laughed, leading Kakyou out and leaving the sleepy pair to themselves.

_...Bloodline..._

Author's Note: Poor Subaru. He doesn't feel comfortable being the centre of attention for all the wrong reasons! Whilst I'm aware that now, in 2012, even in stricter, more anti-PDA countries like Japan are more accepting of gay relationships, twenty years ago it would still have been shocking for passers-by to see open displays of affection between two men, shocking enough for them to point and whisper. Particularly since Subaru is still so young. It's been interesting researching parts of this story for the purposes of realism, given that one of the issues appearing later on concerns Japan's comparatively low age of consent and the dubious legality of the pair of them choosing to live together given their respective ages. I hope I am portraying the more mundane difficulties of their relationship in a fairly realistic way, since whilst I am a big fan of sunshine and roses relationships, I feel a more realistic approach to the reactions of the world around Subaru and Seishirou is a far more interesting dynamic to work with.

P.S. Hope you all liked the fluff at the end. That was borderline cavity-inducing...

_Next time: More murders, overprotective family, wedding talk and wards._


	4. Fashionista

Bloodline

Disclaimer: CLAMP owns it. I play with it.

Pairings: Seishirou x Subaru, Kakyou x Hokuto

Warnings: Violence, blood, implications of sex. If you have a problem with any of this...you're in the wrong fandom. This is CLAMP, so blood is a given.

Author's note: Apologies for the wait – real life hit me in the face with a sledgehammer – I'm moving into my own flat at the moment and starting a new job so writing took a bit of a backseat, and will continue to do so until I'm a bit more settled – but I have a lovely lovely waifu who makes sure I keep writing, so it won't take forever! Glad to see a largely positive response to Hishiro and Hisa – I will be developing them over the course of the next few chapters. Enjoy chapter four, and please please prove that there is still love for this fandom, bring some joy to a very busy author's day, and leave a review! :D

_...Bloodline..._

Chapter Four – Fashionista 

_5__th__ October 1992_

Subaru very rarely swore, so the low, muttered curse from the kitchen had Seishirou's ears pricking. He glanced up from his paperwork (sometimes that damn clinic could be such a nuisance) and dropped his pen on the table. "Subaru-kun?" When the Sumeragi appeared in the doorway, his face was ashen, eyes heavy with sadness.

"That's a third killing. Another onmyouji...he died early this morning on his way to work."

Seishirou frowned and grabbed the remote control, waving it at the television and flicking it on. "How do you know?" He asked, surfing the channels to look for news.

Subaru sighed and shook his head. "Phonecall. He was...he was my cousin's husband." He'd hardly gotten the words out of his mouth before Seishirou was up and pulling him into an embrace. The assassin knew what these killings were doing to his sensitive other half. Besides...alarm bells were going off in his head. His cousin's husband. That was just a little too close for comfort.

"Are you alright?"

"Oh...I...Well I hardly knew him, but I...I feel terrible for Sayaka-san. Besides...that's five deaths inside a month, all of them people like me, people I'm responsible for."

"You can't possibly be feeling guilty, can you?"

"No! No, that's not it. I just know them all. It can't be a coincidence that all of these people, five in three cases, were magically talented." Subaru murmured, lifting his head and looking up at Seishirou. "The government have been on the phone to Obaa-sama already. They want me to find time to look into it as head of the Sumeragi clan."

"Not happening. Absolutely not."

"Seishirou-san?"

"If this killer is targeting practising onmyouji, you make an attractive and highly visible target. The general public may not be able to match a face to your already famous name, but it would take shockingly little effort to hunt you down." Seishirou eyed him. "At the risk of sounding like a stalker, believe me, I know. To me, you were obviously a strong magician and within moments, even when you were nine, I had you identified as the Sumeragi head-to-be. Have you considered that perhaps this killer is magically talented, and will be just as able as I was to recognise you if they saw you? You poking your nose in would only make you more visible and easy to find." Golden eyes flashed with anger.

Subaru flushed. "But I have you. Who would dare cross you when you're on the warpath in my defence?" A slow smirk painted that pretty face.

Seishirou found himself speechless. The retort was valid, after all, but the level of trust and belief that Seishirou would always be between Subaru and danger never failed to shock the assassin into silence. Where he'd, invariably, darkly wonder if that trust was grossly misplaced, even as his heart felt light at the knowledge. He held out his arms in wordless demand.

Subaru came to him, relaxing into his embrace. "I won't lie, Sei." He sighed, and Seishirou tried to figure out whether he was disgusted with himself for finding the mutilation of his name endearing, "I'm frightenred. But not for me. I have you. But Hokuto-chan, and Kakyou-san...my family, and my friends...they're all in danger. I have to find out who bears such a grudge and why."

"So you can talk them out of it?" Seishirou said dryly. "You can be so impossibly na-"

"So I can kill them before they kill anyone else." Subaru interrupted viciously.

Seishirou leant back, surprised, glancing down at the steely-eyed Sumeragi. "Kill them? Am I making a sociopath of you yet, Subaru-kun?"

The teenager deflated a little. "Shut up Seishirou-san. That isn't funny. Maybe...not kill. But stop them. I think I'll leave the murder thing to you." Subaru kissed his cheek and let go, heading for the door, leaving Seishirou to puzzle over 'the murder thing', wonder at the offhanded way the boy said it, and consider whether Subaru was genuinely coming to terms with his lifestyle. "I have to speak to Hokuto-chan."

"Did you just make a joke about my chosen career, there?" Seishirou shot at him smoothly.

"Hnn." The shrug and the noise were non-committal. "Well, I have to get used to it eventually, don't I? I'm in love with a contract killer. So? Spies and assassins still have wives and husbands, and kids."

"Does that make you my wife, Subaru-kun?" A wicked grin.

"...Shut up, Seishirou-san."

Subaru was still blushing when his sister answered her door five minutes later. "You heard?" She pounced immediately, and Subaru could tell straight away she was upset. Hokuto had always been closer to their extended family than he had – she'd probably spoken to the dead man a lot more recently than he had. He knew some of his family found him aloof and quiet because he had always struggled to truly open up to anyone besides Hokuto. He had a lot of heart, love and trust to give, but when it came to himself, he was very closed off. Wearing his heart on his sleeve, but not letting anyone really get close to him. Until Seishirou, of course.

"Yeah." He replied shortly, shaking his head.

"Subaru, what if they come after you?" She yanked him inside and into a hug, green eyes the mirror image of his own filled with concern. Today's outfit was unusually sombre, reflecting her mood. They could probably have passed for each other today – both in black sleeveless vests and skin tight black trousers – if it weren't for the cat ears.

"Seishirou said something like that." He grimaced, following his sister into the kitchen where Kakyou sat. "Something about being really 'visible'." He glanced at the blond man, who smiled back at him serenely, that signature calm, collected look in soft golden eyes. "...I like your hair that length." He added. Kakyou had cut his hair shorter. He still had his long fringe, but there was a lot less at the back, presumably taking the weight off his shoulders.

The dreamseer smiled. "Thank you. Hokuto cut it for me."

"I hope you're taking care, too." The onmyouji murmured, sitting next to his soon-to-be brother in law. "You might not be an onmyouji, but you've got magic in your blood." And very suddenly, Subaru felt very ill. "Oh. Oh my God."

"Subaru?" Hokuto asked immedately, alarmed.

"What if that's it? The targets have all been onmyouji, but what if the killer is one of us, too? What if he's hunting them for their powers?" Dread pooled in Subaru's stomach.

"Can that be done?" Hokuto asked quietly. "I mean, is it even possible to drain a sorcerer of their powers?"

"Not legally, no." Subaru's gaze darkened. "But I have heard of rituals that can be done. I don't know of any that involve the death of the giver, but...I suppose It isn't beyond possibility. I'm still learning, and there are thousands of magics I don't know about." He groaned and buried his head in his hands. "I guess this makes my first port of call the morgue. Let's just hope it rules out what I've just suggested."

"Port of call?" Hokuto echoed. "Ugh, don't tell me, someone up in the rafters wants you to hunt down the murderer?"

"Yes. Sumeragi clan responsibilities and all that." He sighed. "To be fair, I believe my methods on this case will be more thorough that those of the police force. I know what I'm looking for, and if the target is a sorcerer too, the police won't be able to fight him."

"...Well...make sure you take Sei-chan with you. Don't go running off by yourself."

"You say that like I'm incompetent." Subaru replied dryly. "He probably wouldn't let me go alone either."

"Because it's dangerous, and we love you." Hokuto sniffed, poking him in the forehead imperiously.

"See, I just have no comeback for that." Subaru grumbled, a flush dusting his cheeks. He huffed as he grabbed his sister's phone off the side table and flicked through her address book. At her quizzical glance, he smiled weakly. "I'm calling Mirei-san." He informed her, dialling the number. "I could use her help on this, she might be able to identify the killer. Plus, she and Miyatake-san need to be warned, they're in – ah, hello, Mirei-san?"

"Subaru-kun! How are you?"

Hokuto hovered as her brother spoke to their fellow medium quietly, worrying her lower lip. Lost in her thoughts, she jumped when Subaru let out an unexpected laugh of delight. "Well. Congratulations to you both. I'll see you in an hour." He bowed down the phone, dodging Hokuto's swat to the head for doing so, and hung up.

"Congratulations? For what?"

"Mirei-san is going to have a baby. I'm not at all surprised, they're a perfect couple." Subaru laughed.

"Mouuu! That didn't take them very long! I hope they're ready to be parents!"

"This, from a girl engaged at seventeen?"

"Look at the time! Subaru, you'd better grab Sei-chan and go or you'll be late!" Hokuto sang, dodging and leading the subject away from her own light hearted hypocrisy, secretly delighting in the laughter it brought from her twin. He had been sombre, moody and thoughtful since the murder has become murders.

"See you later, Hokuto-chan." He chuckled as he kissed her cheek.

_...Bloodline..._

"Yamakawa-san!"

"I wondered if I'd be seeing you here, Sumeragi-kun." The inspector Subaru trusted most pushed off the wall outside the morgue, a quadrangular, stark white building situated within the city police station complex. "Vested interest, have you?"

"Something like that. I've been asked to look into things, that's all." Flanked by the tall, pleasant mannered vet with the eerily hard eyes and the more familiar, gentle face of Mirei-san, Subaru Sumeragi cut as striking a figure as Yamakawa remembered. Doe-eyes, slender and long limbed, the young magician he'd once been dismissive of was still as ethereally beautiful as he had always been. His dress sense had improved however, he decided, style sharp and edgy rather than simply outlandish. Sumeragi-kun had a way of making others around him look and feel bland and uninteresting, Yamakawa thought, glancing self-deprecatingly down at his favourite faded brown overcoat and high street label suit.

"Off the record, I thought we should have called you pair from the start, son as that woman's occupation came up. I figured your lot would get involved somehow. I'm guessing you want a look at the bodies?"

"As morbid as it sounds, regrettably yes." Subaru sighed. "I hope we're not causing you any trouble."

"Not at all." Yamakawa replied as he waved his ID at the guard by the lift. "You've got the clearance, and I've seen you pull enough crazy stuff to know when you mean business. Still don't think I have a mental handle on all this magic stuff mind, so forgive me if I plead ignorance and pretend it isn't happening."

Mirei laughed into her gloved hand, and the vet – Sakurazuka? – smirked a little, but Subaru remained as intensely polite as ever and merely bowed. "We'll try not to get in your way too much."

Yamakawa unlocked the door to the fridge. "Speak to the coroner for details, he's expecting you."

"You are very organised, Yamakawa-san. Thank you." The Sumeragi replied as he let them in. As he passed, once again the inspector found himself astounded by the wuiet young man who held power he couldn't even perceive at his fingertips. Then, he shut the door, leaving the trio to work and putting all thoughts of spirits, onmiyouji and magic to the back of his mind.

"Are you alright, Subaru-kun?" Mirei touched her friend's arm gently. The boy was looking pale and drawn.

"I'll be fine. I just...don't really want to be here." An apologetic half-grin.

"Understandable." Seishirou said in a clipped voice, scowling ever so slightly at the gloved hand that was brushing Subaru's bare arm. Irrational, perhaps, Mirei-chan was happily married, but in light of the murders Seishirou was finding himself even more fiercely possessive than usual. Subaru caught his glower and shot him a warning glance, well-used to his predatory possessiveness.

Seishirou reigned in his dark thoughts and pulled a face, drawing a weak smile from his partner. Mirei was watching the interaction with thinly-veiled interest. "You two seem to be getting along." She commented as the coroner pulled out several freeze drawers, revealing five prone bodies. Subaru pointedly looked away with a grimace.

"Yes..." His voice was strained. "We're great." He was used to dealing with the dead, but it was spirits he saw, not bodies. Friendly conversation ceased after that as the coroner began to list off his particulars.

"All of them died from a single stab wound to the chest, it would appear." The greying old man said slowly, eyes flicking from Subaru to Seishirou quizzically. "Rigour set in fast, unusually so. It was a very clean job every time, by the looks of it. No mess, very few signs of a struggle – little more than scrapes and a few bruises on the woman here – the first victim."

"Efficient." Seishirou put in mildly, unaffected by the proximity to bodies. Subaru's stomach did an odd little twist at the tiny inflection that made Seishirou sound almost impressed. The assassin was leaning over the body. "Hmm." He agreed. "Almost clinical precision – an aim to kill quickly and cleanly. Not too much blood spilt, I would imagine?"

"Quite right. Minimal pooling – all five were lying on their backs." The coroner agreed.

"The question is why?" Seishirou continued. "Would you excuse us for a moment, doctor?"

"Certainly." The man agreed, though his face belied his pleasant tone. He was vexed about leaving the three civilians alone in the mortuary, that much was obvious. But Yamakawa had cleared them, so he left without verbal complaint. Immediately, Seishirou looked up, hardly waiting for the door to swing shut. "Can you feel it?"

"It? Yes. Or rather, the lack of it." Subaru replied. "There should be a spiritual aura here – a strong one, given that three of the five were practising onmyouji." He explained to Mirei. "But there isn't." He shared a glance with his lover. "Like all the spiritual power was drained from their bodies."

"Before or after they died?" Mirei asked, turning pale. She too had spiritual power, the fact that she and her husband were targets was more real than ever.

"Most likely as it happened." Subaru explained grimly. "Rituals for power-sharing are the closest thing I understand to this – all require a ceremonial knife and drops of blood, along with a complicated spell."

"These deaths seem to fast for a spell." Seishirou added. "Which gives rise to the possibility that a spell to steal power might have been placed on the dagger before use." His eyes were dark and thoughtful, and he stepped closer to Subaru.

"Lacing weapons with magic to make them stronger?" Mirei asked. "That seems archaic."

"It is." Subaru confirmed. "Very old and outdated – that sort of thing is well outside my jurisdiction." He glanced at Seishirou, who held up his hands in surrender.

"Don't look at me. We have never used weapons in this manner. Definitely not my modus operandi."

Subaru grimaced a little and nodded. "No indeed. I'll have to look through Obaa-sama's library. Or at least phone her and ask her opinion. I don't think I should leave Tokyo for the time being..."

Seishirou put his hands on Subaru's shoulders, then slid them down to criss-cross Subaru's thin chest, pulling him back against him and quietly indulging in the way the boy easily snuggled back against him, his hand automatically moving to grasp Seishirou's arms in response. "I can't protect you in Kyoto." He agreed. "I doubt your dear Obaa-sama would let me anywhere near your family estate."

"Probably not." Subaru craned his head back. "But if I said you could come in, she couldn't stop me." He added with a smirk. Seishirou blinked, then grinned back into those brilliant green eyes.

"...Well, while you two are staring romantically into each others eyes and making me feel like a complete goose, I'll get on with trying to identify our killer, shall I?" Mirei's amused voice cut through their quiet contemplation, and Subaru flushed.

"Ah...sorry, Mirei-san..." He squirmed a little, but gave up when Seishirou flatly refused to relinquish his hold on the young onmyouji. He watched from the assassin's arms as the young woman pulled off one of her gloves. It took her a moment to gather her courage, but she visibly steeled herself and let her fingers touch the dead woman's arm. "Let me see what you saw." She whispered. The moment her fingers made contact with the victim's skin, she went rigid. Her eyed flicked sightlessly around the room, and her breath came in short, sharp pants. Subaru moved to comfort her, but was held in place by Seishirou's arms.

"Does she work with the police on a lot of cases?" He asked, interest piqued.

"I don't think so. Only when there are no physical leads to follow whatsoever. I expect none of them really believe she can do it." Subaru whispered back, tipping his head back onto Seishirou's shoulder. The assassin lifted one of his hands to mess Subaru's hair, spiking it up only for it to fall straight back into places. Then, he ducked his head, pressing his lips briefly to Subaru's forehead before releasing him.

"The ignorance of the mundane." He chuckled. "Go on over. She looks like she's about to need a shoulder to lean on." He predicted, releasing the younger boy. Sure enough, the moment she let go of the dead woman's arm, Mirei swayed. Subaru was there in a heartbeat to steady her, and she thanked him quietly.

"That was awful." She murmured, shaking. "It was like he was murdering _me_."

"He?"

"Yes. A man, quite tall..." She looked over at Seishirou. "Maybe an inch or so shorter than you, Sakurazuka-san, and thin. I couldn't see much of any colour, it was dark, and only the very brightest colours stand out in my visions." She shivered. "His eyes...they were so cold. He was smiling, he taunted me...I mean...her...about her children." Her hand involuntarily drifted to her abdomen, and her eyes glanced at the two smaller bodies lying beside the woman on seperate drawers. "She knew he was going to go after them, too. It happened so fast..." Subaru pulled her away from the body of the woman. Mirei's face was rapidly losing colour, and she was shaking.

"I think we've been here long enough." Seishirou decided, steering Subaru out of the mortuary and out of the station altogether, into the warm sunlight. Mirei grasped the closest handrail and leant heavily on it, still recovering.

"Are you alright, Mirei-san?" Subaru fussed, hovering beside Mirei, his hand on her shoulder.

"I'm fine, Subaru-kun. Just...give me a second to recover. My heart skipped several beats back there."

"Understandable." The assassin cut in in that signature bland voice. Actually caring when someone was upset was reserved just for Subaru after all.

Mirei appeared to ignore him as she slipped her white glove back on. "I'm sorry my description was so vague." She lamented, addressing the younger onmyouji. "It was hard to focus, my – her thoughts were all over the place. Scattered. All I know is that he was thin, tall, dark haired...and he wore a long coat. It was dark, I should have tried the man who died in the morning..." She wrung her hands. "Maybe I should go back and touch the other four..."

"No. Don't put yourself through that again. We have something to go on, and we can give your description to Yamakawa-san." Subaru assured, though for his part, Seishirou privately agreed with Mirei. He knew better however, than to voice his somewhat unsympathetic opinion.

_...Bloodline..._

"I like this one."

"Yes, Hokuto-chan, you've said. But we can't afford that one."

"It's nice to dream though, right? We could have that in a few years!"

Kakyou smiled indulgently at his young fiancée as she stared at the commercial shops to rent in the window of the lettings agency, hand in his own. Mid evening cast a golden sunset glow on their gentle stroll back from dinner at a little local tapanyaki bar, turning Hokuto's dark hair orange and brightening her eyes, already alight with excitement at the prospect of property shopping. With Subaru happily settled with Seishirou, she had turned her attention to her own dreams, which included running her own boutique and starting her own fashion line, a dream Kakyou fully intended to be behind every step of the way. Or at least, be supportive, but a voice of reason for when the excitable teenager invariably got carried away.

As she was doing now, lusting over a large shop-front on a trendy street in Shinjuku. It was well out of her means (though the family were hardly short of money, Hokuto would accept only a small loan from her Grandmother to start up a business, determined to stand on her own two feet – a true Tokyo girl.) Kakyou knew that whilst her stern Obaa-sama was not entirely happy with her granddaughter's chosen lifestyle, she would always be supportive of her as much as of Subaru. Hokuto had always taken a back seat where the family were concerned, happy to let her brother have the limelight he deserved as the head of the family – it allowed her to do as she pleased behind the scenes.

And Hokuto did whatever she pleased, whenever she pleased. Particularly, he knew, since the beginning of her second chance, she was determined to live her life exactly as she wanted it lived, and all he could do was be happy that she wanted to share it with him, hold her hand and be swept along beside her.

"We could." He agreed. "But even with your vast talent and creativity, you only have one pair of hands. You couldn't fill that window yet." He chuckled as Hokuto reluctantly agreed and moved along the window.

"I definitely want somewhere close, though." She hummed thoughtfully, running her finger along the glass. "Somewhere I can walk to from home." She had been intending to leave her property hunt until after her brother had resolved the murder case, but in the end, she'd decided that the best course of action was to go on as usual and enjoy her life – should this killer target her at all, she had an overprotective twin and his homicidal lover to protect her. Subaru kept so many magical tabs on her that any normal girl would feel stifled – but she accepted that he had reason to fear for her safety, and that he was well aware what losing her would do to him, having experienced it first hand and having no desire to do so again. Her brother had his faults, and could be highly-strung, but she loved him, and nothing would ever change that. "What about this?" She waved her hand at a narrow front on the fringe of the busy Shinjuku shopping district. It looked a little run down and obviously hadn't been occupied in a while, but it was small and quirky – a good start.

"It would need some work. But you could make it look brilliant, I'm sure." Kakyou agreed, glancing up at the closed office. "We should call in tomorrow when they're open again."

"I'll leave them a message on the phone when I get home." The girl decided, thrusting her hands into her pockets and dancing a few steps ahead, leaving Kakyou to appreciate the view – she was looking a little less eccentric than usual this evening, having toned down her apparel for their date. Though tame by her standards, it was still outlandish enough to draw attention in true Hokuto style, great swathes of various shades of blue hugging her perfect figure from her chest down to her hips and billowing out at her knees to fall in a choppy fringe of black lace offcuts. A couple walking the other way paused as though fearful she would spin right into them, but she daintily swerved around without skipping a beat. Kakyou wove past too with an apologetic grin and a fond shake of his head, and the pair smiled back in amusement, sharing for a moment his simple joy at the feeling of belonging with somebody. He noticed as they passed that the woman squeezed her partner's hand a little, and they shared a look he recognised. Turning back to Hokuto, who was now a good ten paces ahead and calling back to him impatiently, Kakyou laughed again and forgot the strangers instantly, focus returning to his beautiful wife-to-be as he caught up and held out his arm to her.

With a delighted giggle she grabbed it, almost toppling them both, and they continued their slow walk home, Hokuto chattering like a schoolgirl about the shop they had seen, and already hashing out new plans for designs she had in mind for the kinds of clothes she'd sell once she had it.

_...Bloodline..._

He was just pushing the kitchen window closed to stop the flies coming in to seek the light when Subaru's skin prickled again. He turned his eyes skyward thoughtfully, staring at the tiles on the kitchen ceiling. The looked innocent enough, white and congruous above him, but it felt like he was being watched – which wasn't a good feeling. When he had first moved to Tokyo, he had felt eyes on him a lot, but that had always been the watchful shikigami of his Obaa-sama. A comforting feeling, one filled with love and concern. But Obaa-sama had not spied in a long time (thank God, she'd blow a fuse if she knew he was sleeping with the Sakurazukamori – he went red just thinking about it!) but that meant that this now familiar prickle felt all the more malevolent. Subaru narrowed his eyes and pressed his hands together, pointing his two index fingers at the ceiling and calling out a sharp invocation. A brief crackle of energy sputtered along the tiles, and the presence shattered. Then, it was gone, and Subaru was left to scowl at the ceiling, letting his hands drop.

"What was that?" The low voice of his lover made him jump, and he gasped, startled. Blinking, he turned to face the other man, a little shamefaced. He hadn't broached the subject of his spy with Seishirou yet, trying to find the right time and not send his volatile partner into a fit of rage. Rage when Seishirou concerned usually ended with murder.

"Someone was spying on me." He murmured, cocking his head. "I sent them away, but I don't like it."

"A spy?" Seishirou repeated, eyes narrowing.

"Didn't you feel it in the house?" Subaru shuddered, glancing back up at the tiles. "Like someone was watching us. Me."

"I don't feel anything." Seishirou walked into the room. His eyes glittered dangerously, drawing another shiver from Subaru – though this was accompanied by a thrill that pooled in his stomach at the man's anger and unease on his behalf. He was becoming a little addicted to his other half's protective personality.

"So...it's just me. Someone is watching me."

"I'll look into new flats today after work. We'll just have to move again." Seishirou snapped, though he knew it was likely a fruitless gesture – anyone powerful enough to successfully trace and spy on an onmyouji of Subaru's calibre would not find a simple physical relocation much of a hurdle. It would put his mind a little more at ease though.

However, Subaru was shaking his head. "No. The wards here are tight, I'll just step them up. You can help. We're not helpless, and I'm not letting whoever this is turf me out of my own house. We've only just settled in properly." He pouted, rubbing his eyes.

"Tired?" Seishirou moved over and leant on the kitchen counter, flicking the kettle on. It was Subaru who went to him for a change, taking three long strides and pressing up against Seishirou, hands on the counter behind the man. The assassin's eyes lit up with interest. "That's a no then?" He grinned wickedly, looping his arms loosely around Subaru's hips. Thoughts of their spy didn't leave his mind despite the delicious distraction currently kissing his neck. There had to be a connection between the spy and the killings – it was too much of a timely coincidence otherwise. He decided Subaru was right, and began to rifle through his memory to think of ways he could improve their magical security.

Before too long he was thoroughly distracted however, and eventually he gave into the demanding, hormonal teenager latching onto his body.

_...Bloodline..._

Author's note: Another chapter down! Plot is thickening, and Seishirou is being his protective self. I...really like fluffier!Seishirou. :D

I also like older Subaru. As in, hormonally aware Subaru. In the six months or so between Advocate and Bloodline, he had to learn to adapt to and accept his own sexuality. Teenaged boys have hormones, even though Subaru's always seemed a little stunted. I can imagine him soon after the end of Advocate, trying and failing to be seductive and Seishirou just finding him mildly amusing and adorable...(giggles)

_Next time...things start to quite literally heat up, and Seishirou has some trouble with the police, and worse, Subaru's family._


	5. Burn

Bloodline

Disclaimer: CLAMP owns it. I play with it.

Pairings: Seishirou x Subaru, Kakyou x Hokuto

Warnings: Violence, blood, implications of sex. If you have a problem with any of this...you're in the wrong fandom. This is CLAMP, so blood is a given.

Author's note: Lots of Subaru torture in this chapter...major violence and nasty injury warnings! Also Hokuto-lovers might enjoy how badass she is in this chapter.

_...Bloodline..._

Chapter Five – Burn

Hisa reeled back from her ice and crystal bowl with a hiss of pain, long blonde hair flying about her face in sudden disarray. She would have toppled backwards with the force of the backlash, but Hishiro flung out his arms and caught her, proving that he wasn't as hopelessly useless as she sometimes thought he was. "What was that?" He asked sharply.

"The little brat forced me out..." She blinked, stunned. "He banished me!" She glanced down at the rippling water beneath the thin sheet of ice, staring through to the bottom of the bowl. There was no image to see now, save the one imprinted upon her memory – furious green eyes, lips parted in chant; a slender figure with a spell in his hand and contempt in his gaze. "He is more powerful than we imagined." She snapped, eyes darkening. "Certainly more than those who bound me. His only weakness is his youth and inexperience." She looked to Hishiro, who was fidgeting next to her, blinking owlishly at the stilling water. "You must find more power." She decided with a sniff. "Hunt it, take it, you still do not stand a chance against Subaru Sumeragi."

"But he's just a damn kid!" Hishiro whinged petulantly. "There's enough blood on my hands, I never wanted to become a serial killer!" He had tried his best to be cold and aloof, shutting away his emotions whenever he slid a knife between a fellow onmyouji's ribs in the manner Hisa had had him practice over and over until it was perfect. They were just innocent bystanders making a living – the only clan he truly wanted to hurt was the Sumeragi. They deserved it for everything they had done to his family. And he would make sure their little brat of a clan head knew the extent of his family's betrayal before he took his revenge and ended their traitorous line for good.

"That child is the most powerful member of the most magically powerful family in Japan." Hisa responded dryly, unsympathetic. "You want him to suffer, to know your story, and I need him here to release me. You keep storing power until you are strong enough to defeat him in combat and bring him to me. You cannot expect to sneak up on this boy, he won't allow it. You won't be able to use underhanded tactics, you _must_ be stronger than him. Once he is here, we will both get what we want."

"How many more must I kill?!"

"That depends on the strength of those you find. Hurry." Hisa snapped, growing increasingly impatient as she wove the spell to send him back to Japan. She calmed herself and her irritation as his presence faded, taking a deep breath and closing her eyes. She had waited in her cold prison for centuries, she could afford to put up with a few more weeks of this incompetent man's insufferable whining. Regrettably, she needed him. It was a cruel irony, to be so dependant on a second-rate onmyouji with a grudge and a human conscience. It had taken months to cure Hishiro of his squeamishness – and even longer to encase some of those awful emotions. He had come seeking retribution but didn't have the stomach to be a killer. She told him straight away that he was too weak to pose any sort of threat to the family that imprisoned her, even if their numbers had dwindled.

Luckily for Hisa, Hishiro's grudge ran deeper than his conscience, and she'd been able to mold that grudge to her liking. Playing on his loathing of their mutual enemy and using his desire to hurt them to slowly push back the points of his moral compass, she had essentially given birth to a killer, single-minded and vicious. It was almost lucky he still showed signs of human emotions and weaknesses – otherwise she would have to be careful the monster she had created and loosed wouldn't destroy the pretty little head of the Sumeragi clan before she could force him to free her.

And now the Sakurazukamori was involved. Had Hishiro not been such a squeamish little idiot and taken so long to get used to the idea of killing to steal power, this extra parameter mightn't have been such a problem. But he seemed to have become a fairly stable part of Sumeragi's life, and if the snatches of conversation she had managed to overhear before being noticed were anything to go by, the boy knew exactly who he was.

She would have to be careful to factor his existence into her carefully laid plans that had been five hundred years in the making. Perhaps...a little test of the extent of Sumeragi's capabilities was in order. A test that at the same time would test the strength of the connection between him and the Sakurazukamori, and shed some light onto how involved he might become in their twisted little story.

_...Bloodline..._

_November 1992_

For the most part, Seishirou and Subaru got on reasonably well, considering their less than normal circumstances. However, this meant that when they did argue, the results were usually explosive as their mutual anger set the air alight with crackles of loosed magic. Both men were excellently self-controlled in almost all other circumstances, but the relationship they shared was so intense they couldn't help but lose control when they fought. Even Seishirou, who prided himself on his cool, calm approach and unflappable demeanor, lost it with Subaru sometimes. At the moment, he was trying to keep his temper reined in after Subaru had come in from what he had thought was a job, and had just found out was actually part of his investigation into the murders, which had included a visit to a pair of very shady onmyouji that Subaru had known were not too keen on the Sumeragi. He had gotten cross, then Subaru had swum straight past embarrassed and guilty and settled firmly on angry at the insinuation that he was incapable of doing anything without Seishirou's assistance.

"Are you kidding me? What do you think I did for seven years after you abandoned me the first time, sat in my bedroom and cried all day?" He said hotly.

"That woldn't be far from the truth." Seishirou smirked.

"I'm so glad you find that funny." Subaru snarled, clenching his fists and painfully reminded that this was the same man who had taken such pleasure in ruining his life. "I still worked, and yes, every time I did I was usually in some kind of danger. You weren't around then, and you don't need to be around now!"

"I was always watching." Seishirou replied carelessly, with a shrug.

There as a long pause as Subaru processed this. He seemed to struggle to rein in his emotions for a moment. "Quite aside from how disturbing that revelation is, and how much of an asshole it actually makes you, the point is moot. I was perfectly capable of taking care of myself!"

"Oh, yes. You didn't feed yourself, you barely slept, how – "

"And whose fault was that?" Subaru cried, lashing out, only for Seishirou to catch his wrist in an iron grip before his hand could connect with Seishirou's face. Repeating the action when Subaru tried again with his other hand, Seishirou held him at arm's length, and allowed himself a moment to lament what his pretty, gentle little Subaru had become since he had let him into his life and allowed the boy to lose his nervousness and work on his piss-poor self esteem.

"Don't you dare."

"You'd deserve it! Don't YOU dare turn this into an argument about what you did to me, you heartless bastard!" Subaru was shaking, finally losing the battle with his tears. Seishirou closed his eyes. Why did he always have to deal with a sobbing teenager? The boy was wriggling in his grip, and Seishirou let go of him, feeling a twinge of guilt when Subaru's wrists came away livid red.

"Sometimes, you really don't make me want to put in any effort." He spat, not really meaning it but wanting to hurt the Sumeragi as much as Subaru had just hurt him by calling him heartless. Hadn't he changed for Subaru? He wasn't heartless, he loved Subaru with everything he had, and whilst he could admit that that wasn't much, he still meant it honestly. To be branded heartless made him think of his actions in the past, something he didn't like remembering.

Seeing Subaru flinch violently, Seishirou decided that he'd better leave, quickly, to cool off before he dealt out any more verbal abuse he didn't mean, or worse, he thought, eying Subaru's wrists, physical abuse. He set his shoulders and spun around, heading for the door, his thoughts in total disarray. He hated not being in control. Immediately, he heard a sharp intake of breath behind him, and the slightest whimper.

"Seishirou-san! Don't...don't do this, where are you going?" There was a note of panic in Subaru's voice, and he grabbed Seishirou's arm.

"To the clinic."

"But you hate the clinic!"

"I dislike it mildly less than I dislike you at the moment." Seishirou shot back with a scowl, yanking his arm from Subaru's grip and pushing him back, a little harder than he meant to. He didn't allow himself to process the boy's tearful eyes, or the desperate whisper of his name, as though Subaru thought he was going to leave and not come back. Seishirou needed some space right now before he lost it completely, he hated that damn clinic, but he did get along reasonably well with the animals – at least he could say what he liked to them and they wouldn't dissolve into floods of tears or take everything in the worst way possible.

"Sei...Seishirou...don't leave me...I'm sorry, I'm sorry...don't..." Suddenly, the shy, vulnerable boy with no self-esteem was back, and Seishirou hated himself even more for missing him over the strong, capable, beautiful boy his Subaru had become. Even less able to deal with this revelation than his anger, he left quickly, shutting the door behind him and twisting the key in the lock to at least keep Subaru from following him. It wouldn't stop him if he really wanted to, but the action would give him pause.

Subaru threw himself at the door, his heart hurting when he realised it was locked. Seishirou had locked him in. "Seishirou-san!" He called desperately through the door, terrified that the man had gotten fed up, was going to leave him. "Seishirou-san!" He slapped his hand to the door and sank down it, shaking uncontrollably. What had he done?

Sitting with his back to the door he hugged his knees, assaulted by memories of the first time Seishirou had left him, after brutally beating him and telling him in that damned horrible affable tone how little he meant to him. He had left, and then he had killed Hokuto. A violent flinch. Had he really changed? Was all of this just a lie? Which was the real Seishirou? He buried his head in his knees, sobbing into his jeans as clashing memories overwhelmed him. He didn't even know how long he sat there, warring with his own memories, unsure what he was more afraid of, that Seishirou would leave...or that he would come back.

He was so beside himself he almost didn't notice the malevolent hum of magic that trickled through the windows and permeated the air with a sudden thickness.

Almost.

He tensed, instinct taking over as the hiss of untamed magic shook him into lucidity. Swiping at his eyes, Subaru was on his feet in moments, heart lurching as his carefully crafted wards crumbled and fell. He dashed through into the living room, heart lurching as raw power manifested within his and Seishirou's wards. This wasn't a spirit, or anything Subaru was used to dealing with. This was magic taking form and targeting him. Thoughts of the mysterious onmyouji hunter flashed through his mind even as he dismissed it – this was not the way the serial killer worked – he hunted with a knife and cold-hearted determination. All thoughts of the creature's origin vanished when it finally took form, and his eyes widened.

It was taller than a man, long-limbed and grotesquely proportioned, gangly...and made completely of fire. A summon, Subaru recalled, more ancient magic that went largely unused in the modern world. Backing up, he gasped as the creature followed, setting carpets and curtains aflame. Subaru, paralysed with fear and shock, didn't spare the apartment much thought as it caught fire around him – until the smoke alarms went off. Jolted out of his haze of terror, he felt the calm of impending battle set over him even as adrenaline hummed through his veins. Calling on his magic he sent a wave of razor sharp wind, unwanted memories of battling Seishirou an age ago on Rainbow Bridge assaulting him even as the creature reeled back.

However, it didn't seem overly affected, in fact, it appeared to gain power from the assault, and it surged towards him. Subaru was forced to flee the living room as it combusted around him, heat searing his cheeks as he fled into the hall, spinning around to face the demon-thing as it crashed through after him, turning the door into a mess of splintered, charred wood. Flames licked up the walls and hit the ceiling, and he could feel the heat on his face. He hated fire.

Fire! Right! Not wind, but water! He could already hear screams as his smoke alarm activated the ones in the rest of the block, he could hear people running for the exits. Steeling himself, he drew a sheaf of ofuda and barked a command, and a flock of doves manifested from the paper and hurtled towards the demon. At another sharp word, the doves dissolved into a flood of water that slammed full force into the creature and sent it reeling back with a roar that set the remaining set of curtains on fire. Subaru didn't allow himself a moment to feel smug about his little victory, backing up against the front door. He wanted to keep the fire contained, but it wasn't looking like much of an option. His entire apartment was wreathed in flames, and he choked back a sob as something shattered in the kitchen. For the first time, it hit him that this thing was destroying everything he had. Everything Seishirou had. Smoke filled his vision, and tongues of flame licked at the walls near his skin.

Suddenly, he was angry, at the creature, at whoever had summoned it. Gritting his teeth and resigning himself to the fact that the things in their flat – theirs, he and Seishirou were a couple, they lived together, and Seishirou wouldn't really leave him – were history, he pushed at the door, only to mentally curse Seishirou when he remembered it was locked. A wave of magic stopped that, but it was power he couldn't really afford to lose.

The corridor was deserted, and blissfully cool, though smoke already blackened the ceiling, curling in malevolent wisps down towards Subaru. All along it, doors were hanging open as people had fled, and as he darted past, he slammed each one shut, hoping he might save at least one person's possessions. Skidding to a half at the end by the lifts, he spun around and loosed another powerful wave of magic, flinging ofuda at the walls and watching with satisfaction as the creature barrelled into a very solid wall of his magic, held in place by water wrenched from the pipes below and above. The ceiling cracked and the floor split as Subaru's magic used what was around it to keep the creature caged. Slowly, he pushed the walls of the watery cage inward, trying to extinguish the creature. His neck prickled, and somehow, he knew that whoever had sent the demon was watching. His features dropped into a scowl, and he loosed more ofuda, leaping out of the way of a lash of fire that escaped the watery restraints and flattening himself against the wall, only to curse as the demon finally burst through the cage, steaming and smoking and very, very angry. Subaru swore and backed away, flinging up shields to protect himself from the naked flames that preceded the creature's approach.

His eyes widened when a sudden attack had him fleeing for the stairs as a wall of fire rose like a wave before him, loosed from the demon's long arm as it swept across the corridor. A patch of ceiling fell behind the creature, and the flames hungrily licked up to the next floor, as though they were alive. Subaru took the stairs at a jump, trying to put distance between him and the summon, relieved that everyone else appeared to have gotten out alright. The creature followed him, and Subaru flung a strike spell back to send it reeling, noting with some satisfaction that it seemed to be weakening. Take that, Seishirou, who said he couldn't look after himself?

The satisfaction was short lived as the thing leapt through the spell and tackled Subaru to the ground. The shock was soon overpowered by pain as heat and naked flame seared his skin. He struggled briefly, gasping out a spell and slamming his hand to the ground. The floor rippled and pipes burst beneath him, and he scrambled to his feet the moment he could, hurling himself further down the stairwell as the water from the pipes shot up and buried the creature in a whirl of hissing and steam. The whole apartment groaned under the strain of the fire tearing through it, and the stairwell looked like it would soon become a death trap. Oh, this was not going to end well.

_...Bloodline..._

Hokuto was so involved in explaining some of her new ideas to Kakyou that she didn't see the smoke until she was only a block away, having ignored the screaming sirens until now. It was Kakyou's sudden stop that did it, jerking her to a halt and nearly sending her to the pavement in shock. "What was..." She followed his gaze and froze at the thick clouds of smoke billowing into the grey sky, knowing immediately even as her heart dropped to her stomach that the direction could only mean their apartment block. And Subaru's. She dropped her paper bag, heedless of the buttons and ribbons that spilt across the road in her wake as she let go of Kakyou and sprinted forward. Suddenly the sirens were louder, as blood pounded in her ears. A crowd had gathered around the bottom of the block, kept back by hastily erected police tape as fire alarms rang within the building, each one adding to the one before in a rising cresendo of panic. People were still streaming out of the doors, screams lost in the wailing of the sirens.

"Let me through! Let me through, damnit!" She cried, pushing past the morbid wreathes of spectators. "I SAID LET ME THROUGH!" She bellowed, and with it came a crackle of panic-induced power that rippled through the crowd and forced them into a stumble. "Sorry, sorry! Excuse me, let me through!" Hokuto tried to calm her wildly beating heart as she made the most of the gap, reigning in her panicked temper. Magic was not her thing, bursts of power were draining, and she had long been trained to hold her emotions in check.

But not when panic of this magnitude struck her heart with each beat. Ambulances were lined up in the street, and three huge fire engines blared their sirens, pouring water onto flames ten stories up. Helicopters, both rescue and news, hovered above the building, aiding those who had had to flee upwards. At their worst, the flames were tearing through the middle floors. "Subaru..." Somehow, in her heart she knew that this fire had been started in her brother's apartment. The radius of the flames was too perfect, the recent build-up of threats against him and their family too great. Her eyes scanned the crowd, and she pressed her hands together, searching for him even as she loosed her shikigami to find him, feeling the drain on her energy as the tiny silver sparrow fluttered from her fingertips and took off with a chirp of alarm. That done, she swept her gaze once more across the throngs of people, recognising neighbours from her floor and others in the group. She was unsurpised to find that Subaru was absent, but now that her shiki was looking for him, she could try her best to help. Pushing all panicked and painful thoughts about the loss of her things and the absence of her twin aside for the moment, she leapt over the police tape, ignoring calls for her to stop, and only ground to a halt when someone seized her arm.

"Miss, you mustn't go any closer!"

She didn't dignify the man with a response, yanking her lipstick out of her pocket and hurling the lid to the floor, Pulling her arm away from his grip she dropped to the floor, using the lipstick to trace symbols on the ground – quick strokes of her hand as she ran through any and every spell in her arsenal that might help contain the fire. It was almost certainly magical in origin, factoring in the obvious speed at which the flames had taken hold. Pressing her fingers together and trying to control her wild thoughts, she whispered a simple spell of protection. The red marks blazed white and lifted from the ground, melting together and leaking spirit energy, crackling as the muzzle of a large bear fleetingly took form before melting back into white fire and surging towards the building. Her protective magic always took the form of a bear – Obaa-sama had told her it was because she was as fierce as a mother bear when she thought someone might hurt someone she loved. She'd only ever used the spell once before, when Subaru had been knocked out on a job soon after they had come to Tokyo. It had not been so urgent then – she had called on the spirit to watch him and protect him while she ran for help.

Now, it would help anyone it encountered, shielding them from the flames as they escaped until her magic ran dry and she exhausted herself. She could sense her shiki circling the building, and felt the heat as it entered somewhere on the third floor. Allowing the firefighter, who was probably now questioning his sanity, to drag her back, she could only watch with her heart in her mouth, praying for her sparrow to find Subaru.

_...Bloodline..._

Subaru ducked another ball of fire, choosing to dodge rather than shield. His reserves were getting low, his energy was sapped and he kept swaying in place if he stood still for too long. The good news was that he knew the demon summon was dissipating. It's attacks were not so focussed now, they were more random, though still it chased him. He was at least on the ground floor now, though he was loath to lead the thing outside where it could harm people. He sent another weak strike to keep it back and dropped down the last few steps, falling in a heap and cursing as his ankle twisted painfully. He pulled himself to his feet, coughing as smoke filled his lungs. He stared through the flames, trying to see the creature, but all he saw was the fires it had started. Lungs burning, he coughed and swiped at his eyes, leaving streaks of soot on his cheeks. Suddenly, the last few vestiges of the creature burst out in front of him, sending him stumbling back. He flung himself at the door behind him and found himself in the smoke-filled car park that sat underneath the building. The ramp through which cars could enter and leave was already a wall of flames – escaping that way was impossible. Casting his eyes about while flinging an ofuda at the floor to safeguard his back, he spotted the double doors out onto the street, chain-locked for security, but nothing a bit of magic couldn't deal with.

Then, the creature was on him, a fiery hand colliding with his side and sending him tumbling to the floor. Flames licked at his skin and he let out an aborted cry through his teeth. Scrabbling for purchase, he gasped in horror as the creature leant over him. It was going to burn him alive! Lashing out with the very last of his magic, he activated the ofuda he'd left on the floor, and the ground cracked, opening up into a yawn. He didn't wait to see what happened next, rolling out from underneath the summon and turning back to the chained doors even as flames licked at his heels.

A hollow boom from above him had the whole building shaking. Subaru stumbled back, coughing in the smoke. He could no longer see the construct, and wondered if his attack had worked, or if it had burnt itself out or left the building. He hoped it was gone, destroyed. Barely moments later, he realised what a timebomb the car park was. No sooner had this unwanted revelation sunk in, it became reality as the first car exploded. Subaru flinched away, and ran for the door with a cry of terror. Seconds later the whole room seemed to combust behind him in a roar of petrol fuelled flames. With a shrill scream, he was hurled forwards, and pain seared up his back. The smell of burnt skin and fabric assaulted his nose, and his stomach turned as he smashed into the door. His head spun as it collided with the metal, but he barely noticed through the searing pain in his legs and back. Flames reared up behind him, roaring above his head, and with a shriek of fear, Subaru did the only thing he could think of – he shoved at the door with all his might, willing his depleted magic to aid him one last time. When it didn't budge, he whimpered in panic, only for white streaks of spirit-energy to swirl around his head, briefly taking the form of a bear's maw stretched in a roar, and a swipe of a giant white paw that slammed the door open. The magic disspiated almost immediately, spent in seconds, and Subaru tumbled out into blissful open air, flames flickering out behind him. Outside was already awash with panicked residents and screaming people, ambulances and police cars were parked up, lights flashed, and Subaru's head swam as he tumbled forwards, collapsing in a heap on the floor, the pain rendering him half senseless and half paralysed with fear.

A litany of angry swearing reached his ears, and arms were around him, pulling him forward and away from the inferno behind him. Unfamiliar voices echoed near his head, and he flinched and howled when someone brushed against his leg.

More swearing. He fought back instinctively against the hands that held him, his head was spinning and he thought he might be sick. His eyes were screwed tightly shut, and he couldn't even scream through the pain anymore, it dominated his entire being.

And then, there was darkness. Blissful, cool darkness, and a familiar voice murmuring everything and nothing into his ear. Choking on his relief, he sagged into the arms of his lover and the familiar scent and feel of the marboroshi Seishirou had spirited him into. Vaguely aware of arms around his midriff and that gentle murmur he couldn't quite force himself to understand, he trembled.

Seishirou was beside himself. The moment he'd felt the strong kekkai around their apartment fail, he had been flying back to the block, only to find it already consumed by fire. The screaming and the sirens had drilled through his skull, and he had seen Hokuto's slim form lying on the path a little way off with Kakyou crounching beside her, but all he'd been able to think about was the sharp words he'd left Subaru with whe he'd left, and the terrible agony, that worry that he might have lost his lover. He had been seconds away from tearing into the building himself to find the boy when he had come bursting out of the doors leading down to the underground carpark, a wall of flames behind him.

He had reacted without thinking, sending a wave of power at the door and slamming it shut to contain the flames as he had sprinted over and forced the paramedics aside, away from the young onmyouji. Delirious, Subaru had been fighting against the arms of the people who were trying to help him, and only by sending the fussing nurses to sleep and pulling Subaru into the silence and safety of his marboroshi had he been able to calm the younger boy.

"I'm sorry...Subaru-kun...I won't leave you...I'll never leave you..." The boy didn't seem to hear him, and Seishirou's stomach twisted painfully.

Subaru's clothes were charred, the skin of his back raw and red as he trembled against Seishirou, unable to form words through the pain he was in. Seishirou stood rooted to the spot, murmuring nonsense into the boy's ear and at a total loss as to what to do. He didn't know how to treat injuries like this, it was too much, too severe. Subaru's magical core was almost nonexistent, and the last few dregs of it fought to keep the Sumeragi conscious as he went limp in Seishirou's arms, fingers that clutched at his shirt flexing, knuckles white as he whimpered through the pain. He looked smaller than usual, covered in burns and soot, and the assassin felt a tremor run through his body. What could he do about this? In his panic, faced with his lover in more pain than Seishirou could concieve, he couldn't latch onto a single sensible idea.

It was Kakyou's voice that cut through his panic, calling distantly from outside the marboroshi. As the blackness of the illusion melted around him and he focussed wild golden eyes on the younger man, who was casting his eyes around, knowing Seishirou was there but unable to fully penetrate the marboroshi. When the two onmyouji seemed to shimmer out of thin air, Kakyou's eyes widened. "He needs to go the hospital." He said urgently, darting over surprisingly quickly and resting a hand on Seishirou's arm hesitantly. "Let them take him, he's...that's bad."

_...Bloodline..._

As Seishirou paced outside the ward-room where his lover lay, surrounded by doctors and nurses as they treated a slew of injuries from internal bleeding and bruising to the extensive burns on his back and legs, he was vaguely aware of several nurses shooting him glances as they hurried past. He found out why several minutes later when he was approached by two uniformed police officers. The first one, a woman with hard eyes and long black hair tied back in a severe bun flashed her badge while the other, a younger woman with lighter hair and eyes that were more accusing than anything else introduced herself and her partner as Inspectors Kazuhiko and Kato. "And you are Seishirou Sakurazuka-san?" She clarified.

"Yes, that's me. Is there a problem?" He hated officers of the law. They stuck their noses into his business every so often, only to be swiftly nosed away by those higher up in the ranks who knew who he was and what he did. He worked beneath the law but was protected by it, so whatever they wanted to talk about, he assumed it would make itself scarce within a few hours.

"Would you mind coming down to the station to answer a few questions about your relationship with Subaru Sumeragi-san?" Kazuhiko asked with a shrewd look on her face.

Seishirou stared at her blandly, refusing to rise to the bait of her question. "Yes, I would mind." He snapped, unable to help but wonder if Subaru's dear Obaa-sama had had a hand in this, if she knew what was going on. "I'm staying here with my partner."

"Have it your way." The older woman, Kato, shrugged. "Sakurazuka-san, you are under arrest for domestic abuse and suspected arson." Seishirou's eyebrows disappeared into his hair as the woman recited his rights, only to laugh a little when she'd finished.

"Excuse me? Abuse? I would not hurt my Subaru-kun. And I would not set my own apartment on fire, what a ridiculous suggestion."

The women exchanged glances. "All of the evidence suggests otherwise, Sakurazuka-san." Kato frowned as she took his arm and began to lead him down the corridor. He didn't resist – he may be above reproach but there was no reason to goad this silly woman into doing anything daft while they were in a hospital. He could have just broken the bitch's neck for daring to assume she could take his arm, but the little voice in his head that sounded like Subaru told him that wouldn't be very sporting. She was only doing her job, after all. He belatedly realised she was talking to him. "The bruises on his wrists match the size of your hands, his body is covered in injuries both old and recent which are consistent with abusive behaviour, and neighbours have attested to hearing blazing rows, and there are reports of one such row occurring only hours before the blaze started, with Sumeragi-kun locked inside the apartment, no less." Seishirou frowned. Put that way, it sounded bad. Though she was wrong about the injuries, he knew Subaru picked many of those up from work, he had tended to many himself! He did, however, feel a stab of guilt when he realised that the reason the bruises on Subaru's wrists matched his hands was because he had indeed put them there. And locking Subaru in the apartment? He had done that, hadn't he? He shook his head, unable to reconcile all of this straight away.

Their argument had started when Seishirou had accused Subaru of being careless and going out alone. And it had ended with Seishirou leaving him locked in the apartment by himself, in a state. The assassin could have cursed his own stupidity as he was led to a police car, allowing it to happen as he tried to work out exactly what his priorities should be.

_...Bloodline..._

_Author's note:_ That was a hard chapter to write. Luckily I moved house when I was half way through it and was without internet for a few days – which meant that I had some evenings to fill. SO. Why a sparrow shiki for Hokuto? Well, I know that in Shoten, Hokuto's shiki is supposed to be a monkey. But we all know we prefer Subaru's doves to Leone the penguin, as adorable as I find his shoten shiki. So I made Hokuto's shikigami a sparrow. Unassuming and common, a little garden bird with a big attitude! I love sparrows and I love Hokuto, and it just seemed to suit her. In case it wasn't obvious, Hokuto's shiki found Subaru in the car park and her protection spell, the bear, followed, freeing him. Her magic is, however, severely limited, which is why she's wiped by the time Subaru leaves the building.

ANYWAY. Explanations over, please review, and show an author some love!

_Next time: Seishirou has had enough of the police, Obaa-sama gets angry and Subaru tries to sort everything out._


	6. Suspect

Bloodline

Disclaimer: CLAMP owns it. I play with it.

Pairings: Seishirou x Subaru, Kakyou x Hokuto

Warnings: Violence, blood, implications of sex. If you have a problem with any of this...you're in the wrong fandom. This is CLAMP, so blood is a given.

Author's note: Bit of a cliffhanger last time, wasn't it, what with Seishirou getting himself arrested and Subaru in hospital in critical condition...OH THE SUSPENSE. Also, last chapter was supposed to see Seishirou having to face Subaru's family, but it got too long, so it's in this chapter instead. Enjoy!

_...Bloodline..._

Chapter Six – Suspect

Seishirou's expression was flat as he stared across the table at two new officers, one male and one female. The woman was stood by the door failing to look intimidating (ha! As though Seishirou found anyone intimidating!) and the man was sitting across from him, shuffling paper in his hands. Every time he looked up at the calm-faced assassin sitting in the interview room with him he would look away quickly. Wonderful, he was nervous. This was going to take even longer. He rolled his eyes and sat back, gazing around the room and waiting for the man to begin. He'd been shown to an 'interview' room some half an hour earlier, and offered a coffee, which he had politely refused. He'd sat in one of these rooms before, exactly like this, only they'd called it an interrogation room then, trying to intimidate his seventeen year old self. Remembering back nearly ten years ago, Seishirou smirked to himself. He'd been just as calm and collected then, in his school uniform, staring flatly at the officers across from him, who were showing him pictures of a bloodied corpse with what they called a 'violent stab wound' through it's chest.

Seishirou had stared blankly at the pictures. He had killed the man in the pictures, that was true, but he wasn't going to tell them that! Instead, he answered every question they fired at him with a deadpan, 'I want my phone call.' until they had relented. One call to the right office in the right building and they were all falling over themselves to release him.

He remembered how irritated he had been with himself. The man he had killed was a few years older than he had been, and he had been with a whole group of friends. Needless to say, he had screwed up, and there had been collateral damage. By the time Seishirou had chased down the third person who had seen the murder and murdered _her_ too, the original body he hadn't had time to spirit away to the Tree had been discovered, and the place was swarming with policemen. It had been a lucky break for him that that particular murder had been on a contract from the government, who knew their new Sakurazukamori was just a teenager. The moment he had been able to call the number reserved just for him, strings had been pulled, and much to the frustration of the officers, he had been allowed to walk free, no questions asked.

The smirk he had shot them all then had been risky, but worth it.

Since then, he hadn't ever been implicated despite committing several murders a week – it was a matter of pride for him But he could hardly call anyone now – his charges were not for murder, but for abuse and arson. They had taken copies of his hand print and fingerprints which unsurprisingly, had matched the bruises circling Subaru's wrists. Obviously none of the other injuries could be officially traced back to him, so that was their only lead – that and the neighbours' reports of the row occurring less than an hour before the fire started. Now they were trying to guilt him into a confession by challenging him about Subaru's age. The boy was still not legally an adult, and Seishirou could see shit hitting the fan if someone thought to inform his legal guardian of his true living circumstances.

He sniffed as once again the little man opposite him threw some accusations about his ethics. Which was frankly, laughable, if the situation hadn't escalated into something so serious. "I assure you, officer, the relationship I share with Subaru-kun is fully consensual and happy. Yes, we argue like any other couple, but I wouldn't deliberately hurt him, and I certainly wouldn't set my own apartment on fire. You may have noticed that the deeds are in my name, not his." Seishirou said in a clipped voice. "And if my relationship with Subaru-kun happened to be sexual, which actually, is none of your business, he is well over the age of consent."

"Is your relationship with Sumeragi-san sexual?"

"It really is none of your business, but if you must know, it is, yes." Seishirou's eyes pierced the officer's, daring him to make another comment. "I have been living with a hormonal teenage boy for five months, did you really think it wouldn't be? Like I said, it's entirely consensual." He smirked when the man flushed, flustered by the offhand comment. Leaning back in his chair, he flung one ankle up onto the opposite knee, looking entirely too relaxed. The officer flicked through his papers, thoroughly thrown by the man's casual attitude towards his sexuality.

"Excuse me officer." The door opened, then, and a familiar face appeared in it. Seishirou offered Detective Inspector Yamakawa a cool smile. "I'll take it from here." He said, and the junior officer could not refuse him, and so moments later Seishirou found himself facing the DI he had seen at the morgue the month before.

"Yamakawa-san." Seishirou inclined his head.

"Sakurazuka-san. Is Subaru-san alright? I couldn't believe it when I heard, but I can't say I wasn't expecting it..."

"I don't know, I haven't been allowed near him." A sneer. "Some misguided thought that I might be responsible for his current condition."

Yamakawa sighed. "You must be aware the evidence is not in your favour. Your case is sensational to the officers here, because you are a man living with a teenage boy – a man accused of physical abuse. It is not your normal domestic case, I'm afraid it's caused a little excitement, at poor Subaru-san's expense." A grimace. "However. As much as I don't really trust you..." Here Seishirou smirked. Smart man. "...I appreciate that you care deeply for him. I don't believe you are capable of doing the things everyone is saying you did. Not to him at least." He added shrewdly. "I have seen him at work, it is likely you are right about where he has gotten most of his injuries from, though the bruises around his wrists – "

"As unlikely as it sounds, he went to hit me first." Seishirou interrupted, narrowing his eyes at the accusation in Yamakawa's. "I am not the kind of man who tolerates being struck, and I took measures to stop it. That doesn't mean I'm angry at him, we were having an argument that got heated, and actually, I'm rather pleased he's lost a little of that roll-over-and-take-it attitude. I like to think that's my doing."

"For better or worse." Yamakawa muttered. "Listen, Sakurazuka, I'd love to let you go back to Subaru-san, not least because I can imagine he'll be upset if he wakes up from surgery and you're not there. But we've encountered another problem. His family have arrived from Kyoto, and they're being pretty demanding about getting answers. One of our officers might have been a little hasty in his accusations. He's been disciplined for confidentiality, but actually, they have the right to know everything about Subaru-san's life, because he is still technically under the age of majority."

Well. Talk about shit hitting the fan.

_...Bloodline..._

"How could you stand by and allow this?" Obaa-sama's voice was heavy with disappointment, and, for the first time since Hokuto could remember, quivering with repressed anger. "I've tried so hard to protect Subaru from the Sakurazukamori..."

"Sei-chan isn't – "

"Don't lie to me, Hokuto-chan." The old woman's eyes flashed. "Do you think me foolish?"

"No, Obaa-sama. Please listen to me. I wasn't going to say that Sei-chan isn't the Sakurazukamori. Both of us know exactly who he is. I was going to say that Sei-chan wouldn't hurt Subaru! They...they're friends." Hokuto tried to explain, patience wearing thin. They had been throwing arguments back and forth since her grandmother had cornered her outside the ward where Subaru was sleeping off the anaesthetic. The doctors had had to extract a lot of torn and half-melted fabric from the red-raw skin of the younger boy's back and legs following the explosion in the car park, and his lungs were damaged – seared from the heat and hindered by smoke. The doctors were quick to reassure her that the burns were severe but that the survival rate was almost flawless. Almost.

"Believe me, I know what they are, that officer was far from delicate in his description." Obaa-sama's disapproval ran even deeper than it had before, and Hokuto winced on her unconscious brother's behalf. She knew this would have come up eventually – Subaru needed an heir, and presumably, their grandmother was ruling her out as able to provide a new head of the family. That discussion would be a fun one. Subaru wouldn't go near a woman while he had Seishirou, of that, the older twin was certain. "I am very disappointed in you both!" Not to mention angry. Hokuto was almost afraid. "The officers told me my grandson, your brother and the head of your household, has suffered long-term physical abuse at the hands of that murderer!"

Hokuto kept her mouth shut. They'd been round and round this argument, her grandmother just wasn't going to listen. It was amazing, she could argue with Seishirou until she was blue in the face, but arguing with Obaa-sama was damn near impossible. Subaru would be better off staying unconscious for a while, as much as she was desperate for him to wake up. Instead of listening to any more ranting, the older twin abruptly about-faced and walked back into the private ward to sit beside her brother, inching the chair closer and resting her head on her arms on the edge of the bed. She tuned out her grandmother's rage. "Please be okay..." She whispered, reaching to stroke her twin's pale face. Subaru breathed evenly now, disconnected from the awful respirator he'd been attached to earlier, his lungs just about able to function on their own. All that was left to filter and monitor his breathing was a single tube attached to his nose. He had a single IV in his arm that was replacing fluid in his body, and his legs and lower torso were wrapped in gauze and bandages. He looked so thin, even with the bandage padding. Guilt prickled in Hokuto's stomach. Even now, Subaru struggled to remember to eat, and Hokuto knew she should speak to Seishirou.

Not that the assassin should be directly responsible for Subaru's personal well-being. Her brother should know how to look after himself, but it wasn't something he'd ever really learned how to do. Seishirou was hardly a person used to the responsibility of looking after anyone but himself, and though he did an excellent job most of the time, he was easily distracted by his work.

A hand dropped onto her shoulder, and she glanced blearily up at her fiancé, who had been in with Subaru since grandmother had dragged her out. "He will be fine, I promise." Kakyou murmured, settling down on the floor beside her and resting his head on her knee.

"How can you promise when their lives have become so blurred to you?" She thought she might be the cause of that, having screwed so excellently with fate.

"Because Subaru-kun is strong. He has you, and he has Seishirou-san. He will come back from this stronger, and even more determined to find who's responsible, in case they should target you or his lover."

"That's the thing. He should want to stop them for his sake, not just ours..."

"Ah, but helpless altruism is a trait I doubt you'll ever expel from him." Kakyou chuckled. "And he has us to take care of him. He knows that. Don't beat yourself up, he'll never put on weight. He has the metabolism of a shrew."

Hokuto couldn't help it, she burst out laughing. "Kakyou..." She giggled, stroking her husband to be's soft hair. It was easy to forget about Obaa-sama's wrath when her brother lay sleeping off his treatment, the machine next to his bed beeping reassuringly, and her fiancé sat next to her, reminding her how lucky she was to be here, to be alive, and with the people she loved. The picture was just missing Sei-chan, and she hoped the assassin wasn't getting into too much trouble down at the station. She didn't think he would be too happy about being held, after all...

_...Bloodline..._

Seishirou could be patient. During the year of the bet he couldn't have been _more_ patient, but he had grown more and more irritated by the second until he had snapped and demanded to be released. He had rapped out to the startled officer in charge of his case that since they had no solid evidence to link him to anything more than a harmless altercation between lovers, and stormed out, fully intending to return to the hospital before the clan arrived from Kyoto and rained on his parade.

The wards around the entire hospital that, but for his innate sense of self-preservation, might have actually killed him proved that he was too late. He cursed and reeled back, startling a young woman pushing an elderly man in a wheelchair. "...Electric shock." Seishirou explained lamely as they moved past him. Glowering at the doors, he seethed.. These wards were built and enhanced by several members of the Sumeragi family, making them stronger and more lethal than that sour old bitch's curse on Subaru's gloves. Still. Nothing the Sakurazukamori couldn't handle once he knuckled down and paid attention rather than wallowing in anger and self pity. He could break through by force so they would know he was coming and have plenty of time to quake in fear, or he could be subtle and take them all by surprise.

Screw subtle. Seishirou had had enough of subtle. Focussing his magic and concentrating briefly on his lover's pretty face (he found he'd been doing that a lot, lately, apparently showing emotion made his spells stronger, something he wished he'd known right from the start), he tore through the ward with the side of his and like it was nothing more than a paper screen, and stepped through, smiling like the devil himself. The air crackled with energy as both the protection spells and the wards laced with offensive magic were shattered and dispelled, and Seishirou let his hand drop as he stalked through the waiting room.

He was detained at the reception desk, but argued only briefly with the heavily made up receptionist before she wilted under his furious gaze and allowed him through. She'd probably call security. Let her, they couldn't touch him. Subaru had altered his next of kin about four months ago with his doctor, and it would be Seishirou's name they found there. The assassin would have to remember to thank him for that later, it made his life easier. The transition made sense – Seishirou was who he lived with, his partner, the one who could drop everything to help in an emergency. Second only to Hokuto of course, who was listed alongside him. Should they do the right checks, security wouldn't have much of a leg to stand on. Unless they had barred him in light of his arrest – that would be a nuisance.

He tried to pretend he wasn't nervous as he approached the ward he'd left Subaru in all those hours ago. He knew he probably looked awful, streaked with soot and dirt, bags under his eyes. And dealing with one Sumeragi – the pretty one who loved him unconditionally and posed little to no threat to his person – was very different to dealing with multiple, angry members of the family with whom for so long he had been embroiled in vicious, feuding rivalry.

Maybe Subaru would be awake, and he would have an ally. Then again, he couldn't picture Subaru standing up to the grandmother he openly feared. Still, Hokuto would be there, and she would always support him. Surprisingly, the thought prompted a bloom of warmth in his heart, and he physically stopped in place to process it. Smiling self-deprecatingly, he wondered when grudging respect and the slightest of fondness had become such open fondness and affection. "Watch it, Seishirou, or you'll go soft." He snorted to himself as he started walking again, a little more sedately this time. Why did he get the feeling he was much too late?

...Or not. He was still Sakurazukamori, who murdered people most nights and killed puppies to survive the backlash.

The thought made him feel a little better.

He felt the aura of power before he saw her, and as he turned the corner even the Sakurazukamori could admit that the twelfth head of the Sumeragi made for an intimidating sight, standing tall and proud. Her hair and face were tight and austere, her expression gravely flat, and tinted with animosity She was not afraid of him, Seishirou realised as she settled her steely gaze on him. She was afraid for her grandson.

He squashed the flicker of empathy the realisation elicited. No time for it. If Grandma Sumeragi was concerned at how easily he had ripped through her spells, she didn't show it, and her eyes sparkled with a determination he could almost call ruthless. However, he was the Sakurazukamori, he wouldn't be cowed by her. Smiling broadly, indulgently, he stooped into a mock bow. "Lady Sumeragi." He purred.

It was a testament to her willpower that she didn't loose a spell right there. Only the knowledge that they were in a hospital surrounded by people kept Seishirou safe from physical vengeance for the imagined slight against her grandson. Still, he did not advance, though he knew his lover was lying just beyond the double doors behind her, probably in pain. If he woke up without Seishirou beside him...well, he'd probably understand, actually, but Seishirou was used to being there when Subaru woke up after being hurt, and it would be strange not to be. God forbid he should consciously admit that he'd feel bad.

She was between him and the door, and he doubted she'd let him pass. "Sakurazukamori." She finally said, disgust and loathing lacing her voice.

"You know, I thought we would be past such open animosity." Seishirou offered. He'd try once to keep the peace. "I have a vested, but not lethal interest in the continued well-being of your grandson, so I see no need for all the useless little spells you put up to keep me out. In case you hadn't noticed, he's in love with me."

If anything, that seemed to incense the woman even more. "A foolish whim born of lies and manipulation. Nothing that can't be corrected, I assure you." The woman sneered.

Seishirou would have loved to derisively wish her the best of luck – Subaru was his, and nothing the silly woman could say or do would change it – but he didn't think it would go down well. "Corrected?" He prompted instead. "What makes you think you could destroy what we've built?"

"Because it is an insult to our line." She spat. "Subaru will grow up and marry a lady of substance and gentility, and he will produce an heir as is his duty. I will not allow him to be swayed by the machinations of an older man, least of all a man like you. Your very presence insults me."

"Well, I'm not too keen on your presence either." Seishirou hissed, incensed. He'd love to tear her heart out, but he wasn't sure Subaru would be too happy with that resolution. Vaguely, he missed the days where problems could be resolved with murder. "You are old fashioned and blind. Subaru isn't attracted to women, and never has been. He would not find happiness with any woman, and I remain reasonably assured he wouldn't find happiness without me."

"What makes a man like you so sure? He'll see through your lies -"

"What lies? He knows exactly what I am." Seishirou replied coolly. "And he knows how much I love him." He said shamelessly.

"Sakurazukamori feels no love, no empathy! You are as soulless as your mother, and twice as vicious, you -" She reeled back with a gasp, eyes widening as Seishirou closed the gap between them, looming over her menacingly.

"I may not have loved my mother, but I will not hear you speak of her that way. I don't sink as low as to insult your family, so refrain from blasting mine. My mother was not soulless, she loved me. I know how many times you courted death by clashing with her, our families have always warred. Why try to prevent this? Your grandson is ending a feud that has spanned a millennium. We will not allow you to part us."

The elder drew herself up and forced him back with a shockingly strong jab of magic. Caught off guard, Seishirou staggered back against the wall, seeing stars as his head collided with it.

"Obaa-sama! Leave him be!" A sharp voice cut through the haze of disorientation, and Seishirou's gaze snapped to the wardroom door, where Subaru stood, leaning heavily on the frame, eyes ablaze with fury. Fury on his behalf. He couldn't help but smirk. So, Subaru was willing to stand up for him after all.

However, the boy wilted a little as the older Sumeragi spun around to fix him with a glare. "You. You are a disgrace to your family name."

Ouch. Seishirou felt that, and he watched Subaru physically flinch. A roaring blaze of anger welled up inside him in defence of his little partner. For all Subaru's fear of his grandmother, he had always maintained that she loved him. She obviously did, or she wouldn't be so afraid, but it still must have hurt to be verbally assaulted like that moments after waking up. Seishirou was so incensed he swept past her, shaking his head free of the dizziness. "That was beyond unnecessary." He hissed as he pulled the boy into his arms, automatically running a hand through his lover's hair. "Not to mention unfair. Subaru upholds your family name with passionate determination, often at the detriment of his own health. He takes every job you fling at him, even when it disrupts his school work. He juggles his job with his classes and still scrapes together the time to come and visit at your beck and call. I will not listen to you lash out at him, you judgemental old cow."

"...Seishirou-san..." Subaru was staring up at him, unreadable emotion in his eyes. His shoulders trembled ever so slightly.

He wasn't finished. "You may not like Subaru-kun's lifestyle, but don't you dare insinuate he disgraces your blasted name, not after everything he does for you."

"This is unnatural and dangerous!" The woman snarled. "You will destroy him, you'll break him beyond repair, because that is your nature! Besides, two men cannot love one another. It is not...natural."

"Feels pretty natural to me..." Subaru said in a small voice, reassured by the familiar presence of his assassin by his side. "Obaa-sama, you can't change me, and you can't stop me seeing him."

"You are a minor and I am your guardian. I will do precisely as I see fit with you, since you are clearly not mature enough to make sensible decisions." She shot back, directing her gaze once more to the younger onmyouji.

Something shifted in Subaru, then, and Seishirou felt him physically steel himself as his eyes hardened. "You may be my guardian, but I am the head of this household." He hissed, and the old woman's eyes widened in shock. For the first time Seishirou really appreciated just how much both of them had changed under the influence of each other. Sometimes Seishirou was sickeningly attentive to the needs of others thanks to Subaru, and now Subaru was proving he could be assertive and obstinate. "I am perfectly capable of making my own choices." His voice trembled a little, and Seishirou felt the boy's fingers clench on the back of his coat as he steadied himself. He looked tired, and pale, and he was trembling. The glaze over his green eyes told Seishirou he was in considerable pain.

"Should you even be on your feet?" He asked gently, interrupting whatever idiocy the old Sumeragi witch was spewing now.

"Probably not..." Subaru replied guiltily. "My legs ache..."

"You mean, you are in considerable agony and just don't want to admit it." Seishirou dead panned, half carrying, half leading the boy back into the wardroom amid spluttered and angry protestations from the twelfth Sumeragi head. The assassin ignored her. He would deal with her in a moment. Hokuto and Kakyou were sleeping on the chair, having not heard the argument outside. Carefully, Seishirou put his lover back on the hospital bed. "Did you rip out your IV?" He chastised, noting the wire lying by his bed.

"I thought she would hurt you..." Subaru flushed.

"As adorable as I find your concern, you needn't worry. You know I'm more than a match for her. I'll call the doctor, you sit still."

"Couldn't you put it back in?"

"No, Subaru-kun, I'm a vet, not a nurse. It's a little different with dogs."

"You know...I never asked you. The vet thing. Is that..."

"Legal? Yes, I studied veterinary medicine at university." He smiled, crouching beside the bed and stroking a finger down Subaru's cheek. He was rewarded by that blindingly brilliant smile, the one Subaru reserved just for him, that blew all the sweet little grins of the year of the bet out of the water. "It shouldn't be so surprising, the practice is successful and popular after all." Seishirou smirked. "My mother never approved, thought I loved animals too much to be the Sakurazukamori. I like them, they're easier to deal with than people. I believe you feel the same."

"Yes..." Subaru lay back on the bed as the doctor, summoned by the quick press of a button, hurried in.

"He got a little over-excited and pulled the IV out." Seishirou explained, and Subaru looked suitably contrite as the woman rolled her eyes. "I also think he needs a higher dose of painkillers." The assassin advised, before sweeping out of the room to deal with Lady Sumeragi.

Almost immediately, the woman was on him, poking his chest with a surprisingly strong finger. "Head of house of not, I will be taking him back to Kyoto and keeping him there, well away from you, until he sees reason. He is only seventeen, and I am still his legal guardian. This incident only proves he cannot be allowed to live alone in Tokyo any more." Seishirou chose not to point out that he technically didn't live alone. "The law is on my side, Sakurazukamori, and rest assured, I will take measures to prevent you ever going near him again."

"Yes, because that worked so well last time. It took me less than a second to see through those gloves of yours. Face it, your powers are waning and his are growing. Do you really think you are a match to one of us, let alone both of us? Not to mention your granddaughter, who had her nose so far into our relationship it sometimes feels like a menage-a-trois."

Predictably, this didn't seem to sit well with the woman, who went visibly apoplectic with rage as she apparently imagined all sorts of sordid scenarios. It was amusing to watch. Seishirou leant close. "I think you need to be very, very careful, Sumeragi." He hissed, eyes sparkling with malevolence. The woman actually took a step back, suddenly cowed by his intensity. "I am and always will be the Sakurazukamori, and being hopelessly and embarrassingly head over heels for your grandson doesn't make you invulnerable. People who end up on my shit list die. Every time. So do make sure you don't end up on it, because not only will I legally fight to keep Subaru in my life, I will fight with every ounce of my not inconsiderable power to keep ignorant meddlers like you from fucking up what we've managed to salvage from the train wreck that was our shared past. I can be a very pleasant person when I make the effort, but be very certain you do not make a real enemy out of me, Lady Sumeragi." He paused to let it sink in, watching like a hawk as she blinked, rigid with shock and taken by a sudden wariness. "Am I understood?"

A sharp nod, though Seishirou knew this fight was far from over.

"Good. Do give my love to Subaru. I have to go, I fully intend to find out who is responsible for setting fire to my apartment and trying to kill my lover, and extract painful vengeance." He snarled, feeling a little like his old self again and enjoying it. "Good day." With that, he stormed off, long black coat sweeping behind him in that effortlessly classy way only he could manage, leaving the elderly woman gaping at his retreating back.

_...Bloodline..._

Author's note: That. Was so hard. I don't like writing Obaa-sama, and I was dreading writing this little altercation. It's not over yet, there's more Obaa-sama vs. Seishirou next time. I hope Seishirou was not too OOC, my lovely waifu and beta assures me he was badass and not too mushy. Opinions? Ideas? Something you want to say? Review! It makes my day!

ALSO. I'm writing a series of short stories, to be centred around this couple. The project is called 'Red Ribbons' and it explores the multiverse, so the stories will all be AU, between 5000 and 20000 words each. I'm thinking at the moment to publish it under the Tsubasa category, because that was the series which introduced the multiverse. Thoughts on this? Would this project be something you'd want to read? Where do you guys think I should publish, if at all?

_Next time: Seishirou does some investigating, Subaru tries to smooth things out, and Hisa's plotting finally reaches a peak._


	7. Reunited

Bloodline

Disclaimer: CLAMP owns it. I play with it.

Pairings: Seishirou x Subaru, Kakyou x Hokuto

Warnings: Violence, blood, implications of sex. If you have a problem with any of this...you're in the wrong fandom. This is CLAMP, so blood is a given.

Author's note: Ack, I'm sorry this has been so long coming ;w; Work has been so manic recently, and I've been away on course! Could do with a week off! Anyway, I get the feeling this is going to be a bitty chapter. I left out a scene with Hishiro last time, then belatedly realised I ALSO meant to include something else...I should learn to follow my plan structures a little more, heh...thanks for the reviews guys, they make my day so much better!

_...Bloodline..._

Chapter Seven – Reunited

It should have been riskier. In broad daylight, with the police on high alert, Hishiro should have had more trouble. But his new powers were running away with him, they hummed through him like electricity, and he could feel their potency increase even as the incongruous little dagger buried deep in the heaving chest of the man beneath him leeched his powers. He fell to his knees beside the old man as magic seared up his arms and settled inside him to add to the store he already had. Soon, nothing would be too much trouble for him, not even little Sumeragi.

He felt dishonourable. He had attacked this man, this retired onmyouji with so much latent power and an impressive past, because his stock of victims was dwindling. Onmyoujitsu was not the career it had once been, and the number of practitioners was so low he was having to choose less and less easy targets. And by easy, he meant targets he wouldn't feel too guilty about. Hisa could condition him all she wanted, but this would never ever be right. The elderly man wheezed beneath him, eyes glazed in pain as blood blossomed across his white yukata. Hishiro had surprised him at his shrine, and the battle had been brief. Powerful as the old man was, he hadn't used his magic for anything more than shrine-blessing for years, and his body was slow to respond.

"I'm sorry, elder." Hishiro trembled, tears gathering in the corners of his eyes. He didn't know the man at all, but he felt like he was losing himself to Hisa's whims, and this insatiable need for power. The man wheezed his last beneath his hands, and fell silent and still, all of his magic gone. Maybe it would be his grandchildren who discovered him. He had not passed on his talent, otherwise Hisa would have had him slaughter the whole family, but what was left of his heart clenched in sorrow as he thought of his own Grandfather, weak and old but still charismatic and clever. This man's children and grandchildren would mourn him, and more than ever, Hishiro felt his resolve crumbling. At least, until an image flickered into his mind, unbidden, of a laughing dark-haired boy and his twin, existing blissfully together with no hint of regret for the slights they had showered upon his family. It was enough to steel him to the murder, and with a sniff, he stood up, blood painting his chest. His fingers crackled with raw power, and he shuddered, multicoloured eyes glowing. With each death, he took on a little of the onmyouji he vanquished, perhaps that was enough to remember them by. One of his eyes was now brown ringed in green, the other split down the middle, half brown, half blue. Brushing the gathered tears from them, he murmured a quick, apologetic prayer-spell to ensure the old man passed on, and walked away, sheathing his dagger. He felt the Ice Witch's pull almost immediately, and a chill seared his skin as her magic drew her to him and he disappeared in a whirl of freezing cold air, leaving behind a little patch of frost where he had stood upon the grass.

_...Bloodline..._

The sun was pale and low in the sky, though the last of the dusk light streamed through the window of his private ward. Subaru twisted his messy hair around his finger, eyes heavy. The pain was...not bad, he decided, but not comfortable. The medication he was on was dulling it somewhat, but he could feel the prickle of his healing skin, particularly on the tops of his legs. He hated to think what they must look like. The doctors had said that by the time the bandages came off, it would look like horrible sunburn, which is what his shoulders looked like, but it would be best to keep the worst burns covered while the new skin grew back (and thank god it would and he wasn't too badly scarred) to keep off infection. He sighed and rolled slowly onto his front, wincing as the movement pulled on his tight skin. He buried his face in the pillow. He'd never had to spend so long in a hospital before, he must have really scared everyone this time. He kept dreaming about being trapped in that burning car park, though in the dreams, he was always unable to escape. He shuddered, missing Seishirou. He guessed his family weren't letting the man in to see him, but he would be out soon enough and they wouldn't be able to make his decisions for him.

They would try. His grandmother would try. She was furious, and even when she was sitting with him in visiting hours she wouldn't speak to him, eyes cool and full of simmering anger and disappointment. He should have known that nothing Seishirou said would have affected her – she hated and mistrusted him, and she was not easily intimidated. He twisted his head to look out of the window. It must be afternoon, and for November, it was a surprisingly nice day. He wished he could be out in it, hating feeling trapped inside.

He was just contemplating getting up and going to sit at the window to watch the sun sink below the horizon when the door opened, and his grandmother walked in with his doctor. He groaned, yanking the covers up over his head. If Obaa-sama was going to treat him like a petulant child, he would damn well act like one. Reverse logic, but Subaru wasn't exactly feeling gracious. This was absolutely not what he needed right now. Weren't visiting hours over, anyway?

"...wouldn't advise it, Lady Sumeragi. I would like to keep him under observation for a few more days..."

"No disrespect to you, but we have a perfectly good family doctor in Kyoto, and I would like him home and out of trouble as soon as possible. They must have heard him choke on his own tongue, because when he threw back the covers, ignoring the twinge of pain in his lower back, they were both looking at him.

"I'm not going anywhere!" He gasped.

"You are coming home, where you can stay out of trouble. I swear, ever since you were nine years old, you – "

"Maybe you shouldn't have left me alone then! If you're going to blame me for falling for him, then you can damn well blame yourself for leaving a young child alone in a city for him to find in the first place!" He probably deserved the slap she gave him then, barely heard the doctor's protest. It had been a low blow, he knew she had been devastated when she'd found him, and had blamed herself for allowing the Sakurazukamori to mark his hands in the first place. He didn't apologise however, too furious as he touched his fingers gingerly to his sore cheek. At least the woman seemed ashamed to have hit him as she stepped back, not looking at him. Subaru scowled and rubbed his cheek. "I'm not going to Kyoto."

"You don't have a choice." Obaa-sama snapped, guilt disappearing in the wake of her fury. "I am still your legal guardian, and I only want to protect you!"

"I don't need protecting! I was just fine without you!"

"You call this just fine?"

"I need to be here to find out who's responsible for this! How can I do that locked up in Kyoto?" He shrugged out of his grandmother's grip when she reached for him.

"Please don't argue with me, Subaru Sumeragi!" She sighed, and with surprising strength, pulled him off the bed and to his feet. "Will you walk to the car or will I have to call your cousins in to carry you?" The doctor was watching all this with a slight flush on his face, and when Subaru looked to him for help, the man turned his eyes to the floor, refusing to look at him. In the eyes of the law, Subaru was still a minor, and under the jurisdiction of his grandmother.

"It hurts to walk." Subaru narrowed his eyes, but the moment Obaa-sama glared at him he baulked, never able to handle her stare. He cursed his timidity and wished either his sister or Seishirou were here to stick up for him. Or just...to be there to give him the confidence to stick up for himself. The woman didn't hurt him exactly, but her grip on his arm was uncomfortable, and his legs ached, protesting the movement after several days in bed. He stumbled often, and at least once, he noticed his grandmother falter with suppressed guilt at the discomfort she was causing him. "You won't be able to keep me there..." Subaru muttered, flushing as he was practically dragged through the hospital reception in his pyjamas.

She didn't dignify him with a response. He attempted to yank out of her grip once more as she led him to a nondescript black car with the blacked-out windows he recognised, hissing. "Enough, this is ridiculous, I'm not a child anymore..."

"If anything, Subaru, your recent activities here in Tokyo have proved exactly the opposite." Obaa-sama chastened in a clipped voice, and Subaru winced. He was about to reply, but she cut him off. "Enough. We are going home, and you're going to rest until you've completely recovered. Then we can discuss...the other problem."

"Seishirou is not a problem." Subaru ground out. "You're the problem!"

This time, the slap hurt. A lot. Subaru almost tumbled, but she and one of the many Aides he should really remember the names of (since they were likely cousins of his) wrestled him into the car without letting him draw breath, let alone fall. When he protested again, asking for Hokuto, his grandmother told him she had been informed of his move and explicitly instructed not to interfere. Apparently she had chosen to remain in Tokyo with Kakyou. At least her impending marriage still meant she held favour in the stubborn, old fashioned old woman's eyes, or Subaru might have worried that her anger at him would end up hurting Hokuto and Kakyou. Once she had snapped at him a third time, he fell quiet, and was resolutely silent the rest of the way back to Kyoto, glaring at his pristine, unruffled Grandmother from between his two cousins, who had a grip on his arms. It felt like he was being arrested, carted off in a police van or something. So much for family. Not that he had seen them in goodness knew how long. He and Hokuto both hated the stifling traditions of their family, and had moved to Tokyo to escape it.

The shrine looked exactly the same as ever when they arrived in the early hours of the morning. Subaru had slept fitfully in the car despite his anger. He guessed it was heading for dawn, he remembered car trips to Tokyo taking most of the day when he was young. By now, his gradmother's rage had cooled a little, though now she looked on him with pity and sadness as he fidgeted in the back seat. He refused to admit he was in pain, the morphine having worn off long ago, but she seemed to sense it, and promised him painkillers when they made it up the long drive. Subaru didn't answer, just looked forlornly out of the window. When they helped him out of the car, he couldn't put any weight on his legs at all, having been in bed for three days and sitting in a car for hours, they had cramped, and much to his embarrassment, one of his cousins had to carry him in. Flushing brilliantly, he directed a scowl at his grandmother, hating her for this.

He decided he hated her even more when she took him straight to his old room and left him on the bed, leaving painkillers and water on the little blue bedside table and smoothing the covers on the futon in a ridiculous gesture of affection he knew she didn't mean.

No, that was unfair. She loved him, he knew that. Her eyes said so despite their obvious displeasure. Still, he didn't feel like forgiving her for this. She was dragging him through the proverbial mud with his family and she knew it. They all looked on him with pity and disgust – poor silly, naïve little Subaru, letting himself get taken in by the Sakurazukamori. How positively disgraceful. Well, screw them all.

"You can't lock me up here. I'll just leave, you can't stop me."

"In this state, you are not strong enough to defy me. Please don't try. We will discuss this tomorrow morning. For now, you need to sleep." She said as she left.

Subaru hissed and hurled the glass of water at the door when it shut. It shattered, and glass showered the floor. He felt a bit guilty – someone would cut their feet when they tried to come in. He should probably feel good about that considering how his family had treated him, but he just wasn't that sort of person. He sniffed and sighed, staring out of the window at the moon. "Seishirou..." He murmured. "I'll come back. Please don't be upset with me..."

Glancing around his old room, his stomach did an odd sort of tumble. It hadn't changed since he had been very small. Still painted blue, still full of stuffed toys – lions and penguins, mostly, his two favourites as a little boy – and little wind chimes by the window. He briefly entertained the thought of climbing out. But he knew he wouldn't get far in the state he was in. He would just have to wait out the worst of all this, and hope that Seishirou wasn't too angry when he did manage to escape.

The thought froze his heart. What if Seishirou didn't forgive him? Thought it was his fault, thought he'd gone with his grandmother of his own free will? The man's mood was unpredictable, and he was prone to fits of jealous anger, Subaru knew. He bit his lip, fidgeting. If his grandmother had ruined everything, then family or not, he swore he would never forgive her.

_...Bloodline..._

Seishirou snapped the police tape with a disdainful glare, stepping into the ruins of his apartment with a grimace. The place was a shell. The walls were blackened and the windows shattered, glass showering the floor.

He felt...hollow. He hadn't spared a thought for the apartment until now, but he had arrived at the hospital this morning to find Subaru gone, and after a fit of temper that had terrified the nurses and resulted in his being thrown out of the place for making a scene, he had paced outside and seethed for over an hour, cursing that damn interfering old hag's name. His shikigami had traced the boy back to Kyoto of course – she must have spirited the boy away the previous evening – but the shrine was a place he couldn't go, protected as it was. He had considered going after the boy anyway, but Hokuto, who had found him hurling abuse at the hospital door like it ha insulted him, had convinced him to trust Subaru. Then, she had told him to do something constructive, and suggested visiting the burnt out flat to see if he could find out any more about what had happened. Not to mention, she wanted a few things from her flat, and since she wasn't allowed in the building, would Seishirou, being one prone to breaking rules anyway, mind awfully picking them up for her?

Seishirou wasn't stupid. It was an obvious distraction, but one he was grateful for.

He sighed a little as he picked up a photograph from the floor, the frame broken, glass shattered. He edges of the picture were blackish and curled, but the picture was still visible – himself and the three youngsters on the day Hokuto and Kakyou got engaged. Running a hand through his hair, he tucked the photograph into his pocket and picked his way through the flat, wrinkling his nose at the smoky smell. Very little could be salvaged, he quickly realised. A few drawers full of clothes were intact, though they would have to be washed several times to rid them of smoke, and the bathroom was largely untouched. He swept some of their things into a bag with a sigh, and continued on, wincing whenever something creaked. The building was supposed to be cordoned off, but as Hokuto had intimated, Seishirou had never really been one to abide by laws of any sort.

He'd visited her flat first. His honorary sister's home hadn't been nearly as wrecked, though it was uninhabitable for the time being. He already had a hiking rucksack with some of the bits she'd asked for in it, but was swiftly coming to the conclusion that there was very little he could salvage from the mess that was his old apartment.

Blowing his fringe from his eyes, he shrugged his shoulders, and whispered a spell. His shiki burst into existence and swept around the room with a caw. "Anything?" The assassin asked after a few moments. The hawk shrieked and disappeared in a burst of magic. Apart from a sudden, intensely cold feeling, as though icy rain was falling on his face, there was nothing. So whoever attacked had covered their tracks. There was no way to trace what had happened. Narrowing his eyes, Seishirou drew a cigarette from the pack in his pocket and lit it, figuring it wouldn't make a scrap of difference in the smoky room anyway. Leaning against the wall, he stared at the scraps of curtain still hanging from the rail, idly remembering how often Subaru had told him off for smoking beside those very curtains.

He cut himself off. Thinking about Subaru was oddly painful, and he didn't like all these stupid, annoying, unwelcome feelings. He wasn't used to not having what he wanted.

He reached out to touch the singed scrap of floaty material. He never thought he'd be attached to anything. Never before had he cared so much about material possessions. Especially not stupid curtains. But these were theirs. His and Subaru's curtains. In a way, they, along with everything else the pair shared, were proof that he had a heart, and at least sort of understood how to use it. They represented the life the pair of mismatched onmyouji had built for themselves in the last tumultuous year.

He missed Subaru.

When he made it back to Hokuto's flat, he found the girl sprawled on the sofa, Kakyou asleep in her lap. Most of the old furniture was still covered – they hadn't done much unpacking, having spent most of their time at the hospital with Subaru. It was lucky the twins' had kept their old apartments their Obaa-sama had bought for them, especially since Seishirou was camping out in Subaru's until alternative arrangements could be made. When the girl saw him in the doorway, she smiled weakly. "Sei-chan...are you alright?"

"...I think so..."

"Oh..." Carefully sliding Kakyou's head off her lap and onto the sofa cushions, Hokuto got up and crossed the room, wrapping her arms around the assassin's middle. Seishirou hugged her shoulders, a dazed expression on his face. It...hurt. All of this odd uncertainty. His fear for Subaru still simmered in his stomach, he missed their flat already, and their odd little shared existence. He didn't know how to cope with the bereft feelings Subaru's absence was garnering. It wasn't like last time, when he'd been so sure of his non-feelings, so certain of his own intentions.

"Hokuto-chan..."

"I know. It hurts. Feelings do, you know. Love hurts, too. All the time." She whispered, looking up at him. "But...it's only human to be sad when something like this happens." She reached up and touched his cheek. Seishirou covered her hand with his and squeezed her shoulders.

"I'm very fond of you, you know that?" He admitted quietly, sliding the rucksack off his shoulder.

"Yes. I do." Hokuto smiled a little sadly. "I just wish you'd realised how human you really are before the end of your year with my brother." Stepping away, she clicked back into happy mode and began to rifle through the rucksack. "Mou, you didn't bring much!"

"There wasn't a lot left to bring. Well, from our apartment. It's a shell."

Hokuto winced at the stricken expression on Seishirou's face. It was a little unsettling, how much the man depended on her brother now, though he would never realise it or admit it to himself. Now they had spent several months in each others' company, to be apart, to know that even she could not convince Obaa-sama to let Subaru go, and knowing Seishirou could not drag him out of the shrine in Kyoto (as powerful as he was, ancient Sumeragi magic was still stronger, keeping him out of his arch enemies' ancestral home) must be destroying him. She stepped closer again. They had never been touchy-feely close, not since she had first confronted him after her rewind. Not like before, anyway. But now, it seemed like the man might need the affection. Still though, she hung back. Seishirou was not the vet both twins had hugged and relaxed around anymore. This Seishirou, Sakurazukamori through and through, still ruthless and cold despite Subaru's influence, might reject any comfort she tried to offer. So she just touched his arm. "You...really miss him, don't you?"

"It scares me that suddenly I can't..." He trailed off, not finishing his sentence and frowning at the floor. "What should I do? I can't go and get him."

"I told you. Trust him. He loves you more than anything, he will fight her."

"Will he? We both know he's scared of her."

"Sei-chan! That's not trusting him. Give him some credit, he's grown up a lot. He knows what he wants, and maybe it will take him a little time, but please just...have some faith in him. He's still...he may still only be seventeen, but he's the head of the family. He'll realise he's in charge. I promise."

Seishirou shot her an odd look, but she held his gaze, hoping her message had gotten through. She was concerned that Subaru would cave to his grandmother's wishes because she wasn't there to support him...

_...Bloodline..._

Two days later and Seishirou was about ready to tear his own hair out. Frustrated and lonely, even with Hokuto only a few doors away, he felt restless. He wandered slowly back to the apartment block, a few brochures for new apartments in his hands. He leaved through them absently, wondering about finding a bigger place. Maybe a penthouse flat somewhere, Subaru would love the view. Maybe he could find one with a view of Tokyo tower, even? It was irrational to believe that finding the perfect flat would suddenly make Subaru materialise, but it would serve as another pleasant distraction to imagine himself and Subaru living in one of these horrifically expensive but lovely places.

He kicked off his shoes carelessly as he entered, chucking the brochures on the floor in the hall so he could take off his coat, shrugging it from his shoulders and dropping it on the floor.

"...How many times have I told you not to throw your clothes around...?"

Seishirou froze, and slowly spun around until he was facing the living room door. "Subaru..." He breathed, blinking slowly.

The younger boy smiled weakly at him, one arm in a sling and bandages around his head and stomach, wearing an open shirt of Seishirou's and loose tracksuit bottoms for comfort.

"I thought you'd gone back to Kyoto..." Seishirou said dumbly, unable to process Subaru's sudden appearance quickly enough.

"I came back. I told you she couldn't keep me from you. I told Obaa-sama I'd drag our family name through the press with a court case if she tried to keep me locked up in Kyoto. It was...strange. She looked at me then, and I don't think she could even be angry...she let me go. I went to Hokuto's, and she told me you were camping out in my old apartment." He whispered. Subaru could barely believe it himself. He'd screamed at his grandmother that he'd never forgive her for trying to tear them apart, and he'd choked out in a half-sob that he loved Seishirou and nothing she could do short of killing him would change that.

He'd felt guilty, as she'd looked so sad, so heartbroken that he was choosing Seishirou over his family. He'd fallen to his knees before her then, and pressed his face into her robes. _"Please."_ He'd gasped. _"Please trust me. Even if what you believe is true, and this is a mistake, let me make it myself. I've done everything you've ever asked of me, Obaa-sama, everything. Everything's been for the family, or for strangers...please let me be selfish, just this once. I love him."_ Her face had been indifferent when she'd let him go, but he'd never forget the pain in her eyes, simmering just behind the careful neutrality. Still. He had done the right thing by defying her – she could not rule his life forever.

Smiling at Seishirou, he felt his cheeks pink at the expression on the older man's face. In seconds he was laughing as the assassin swept him carefully into a hug. "I've never been so afraid." He admitted in a whisper, and Subaru shivered against him. "I thought I would lose you, you looked so close to death, and then, when she took you away...I went to the hospital, nearly lost it when I found out your family had discharged you and spirited you off somewhere."

"I can imagine..." He could, too, he knew he'd be terrified if Seishirou had been in hospital – remembered when the older man lost his eye.

"How are you...?"

"It...comes and goes. The pain, I mean. The backs of my legs hurt, even though my magic is working to fix it. My back is sore, though it's fine under the gauze, if I move too much it hurts..."

"Then you should be in bed." Instead of lifting him as he usually would, Seishirou merely guided the young onmyouji back to his old bedroom, settling him on his front on the double futon and lifting the shirt. Even above where the bandages ended, he could see the boy's bright red shoulders. It was like sunburn, but worse. "Did they give you – "

"On the bedside table."

A pause, and Seishirou chuckled. "I guess it's for the less affected areas?" He asked as he picked up the tube of antiseptic burn salve. At Subaru's nod, Seishirou straddled the skinny boy, his knees either side of slim hips, and pushed his shirt right up over his shoulders. Adjusting his glasses, he gave the tube of cream a once-over, reading the directions on the side. Amused green eyes watched him. Subaru's head was pillowed on his arm.

"I suspect you can just rub it on."

"I'm _checking._"

"Careful, or you'll out-mother Hokuto-chan."

"I highly doubt that's possible." The assassin replied blandly, squirting some of the cream onto his fingers and rubbing it gently into the boy's blistered shoulders. Subaru let out a happy sigh and wriggled under his touch, the cream cooling his livid skin. "Will it scar? Did the doctor say?" He rubbed slow, sensual circles on the younger boy's shoulders

"The skin will be discoloured for a while, yes. And my back might have some tissue scarring, but the burn on my legs and shoulders should fade eventually." He sounded a little upset.

"You know it makes no difference to me, right?" Seishirou kissed the less sensitive skin of Subaru's neck, leaning down to reassure the little onmyouji. "You're still beautiful." He finished rubbing in the cream, making sure to catch even the less badly burned patches of skin. "And you're still brave."

"And I'm still scared." Subaru mumbled into the pillow. "What if something like that happens again? What if you're hurt? What if – "

"Hush." Seishirou climbed off the smaller boy and pulled him up and into his arms, carefully arranging them so he wasn't touching any of the burns that weren't bandaged. "I've set up so many new wards my own mother couldn't get through."

"Your mother's dead."

"That's hardly the point. Nothing's getting through my barriers, okay? And before you ask, yes, they cover the whole block, including your sister's apartment."

Subaru, his mouth already open, shut it with a sheepish grin, blushing. "I love you."

They spent the evening curled in each other's arms, and Seishirou wondered for the hundredth time how he'd managed to go eight years sleeping alone, when five days had been so difficult.

_...Bloodline..._

Author's note: Hishiro's eyes being multicoloured is loosely based on my own eyes, one of which is blue with a ring of brown, the other is hazel. My mother has heterochromia too, so it's hereditary. Also, on Obaa-sama. I love the old lady. She seems to care a great deal for Subaru, but I'd imagine she never knew about the extent of his love for Seishirou. It does seem like the sort of thing she would massively overreact to and be angry at. Luckily, she does love her grandson, and by the time the 'unseen' scene in this story happens, she's calmed down and realised that in her anger, she hurt him both emotionally and physically. What I have imagined (though she is not a 'speaking' character in this verse and therefore I can't really put it across strongly in the story) is that she is more horrified by her own rash actions than Subaru's once she actually allows him to discuss it with her. She loves him and wants what's best for him, but for the time being, she's accepte that he's growing up and has to choose for himself, however frightened she is. After all, her hatred for Sakurazukamori is built on fear for the twins' safety.

_Next time: Hisa and Hishiro reflect on the Sumeragi twins following their attack, and decide to waste no more time, taking advantage while Subaru is still recovering._


End file.
